Magic is the perfect icebreaker
by Koby J
Summary: Arthur tries to hide his dislike when one of his knights form a strong friendship with Merlin. What he doesn't know is that Merlin saved the man's life with his magic. M/A, rated T incase of later chapters
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! New story but not the one I said I was going to do. That one has been put on hold because I'm stuck on ideas for it. Instead, enjoy this one :D It's a merlin/arthur story in case you haven't gathered already, and of course it includes a jealous Arthur ;)  
Yay, first chapter:**

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Merlin trailed the spare sword along the ground, searching idly for something to alleviate his boredom. Giving up trying to count the number of trees in the forest, Merlin looked around for Arthur, deciding that though he was technically meant to be ignoring the prince for humiliating him, it would be alright to talk to him now in the name of boredom and then continue the ignoring later on.

Arthur had burst quite cheerfully into his room at the break of dawn announcing that he felt the sudden urge to hunt. Merlin had of course told Arthur where to shove his urge before burying his head into his pillow. Grudgingly half-awake, he was suddenly aware of a chill across his back, indicating that he was not in fact wearing a shirt. Weighing his options, Merlin had chosen to remain where he was in his nice, warm bed rather than to get up and put on a shirt, because after all, it was just Arthur. Hearing a very un Arthur-like snort, Merlin peered up from his pillow. To his mortification, it was not just Arthur, but a small group of knights. Blushing quite madly, he had burst out of bed and thrown on a shirt, combing his messy bed hair through with his fingers whilst trying very hard to ignore the three knights in the corner obviously trying to either hide their smile with a subtly placed hand or stifle their laughter. Merlin shot a withering look at the prince who was smirking triumphantly, making a mental note to ignore the bloody prat and to make as much noise as possible whenever an animal came close.

Spotting the prince up ahead, Merlin frowned when he saw that Arthur was engaged in a scarily passionate conversation about sword techniques and battle strategies with Sir Gawain, something he'd rather not get sucked into because no doubt with his luck and well, Arthur's prattish nature, he'd end up being insulted one way or another and end up with extra sword training sessions. Merlin looked to either side of him, deciding to approach the friendlier looking knight to the right of him. Dragging the heavy sword behind him, Merlin fell into a comfortable pace next to the knight.

"Hi."

The knight looked startled as he realised that the boy was talking to him. Not that he had anything against servants talking to knights, it was just that usually the boy was somewhere talking to Arthur. The two were almost inseparable, and though they called each other names and bantered quite a bit, Kay could see that in reality the two were close friends.

"Er, hello."

"I'm Merlin."

Sir Kay's initial wariness morphed into a smile as a result from the strangely disarming voice of his new friend.

"Sir Kay. Or just Kay really."

Merlin smiled, he was glad that Kay wasn't one of those knights who refused to acknowledge servants as anything other than an unpleasant presence hovering in the background.

"So what ungodly hour did Arthur wake you up this morning?"

Kay laughed, "Not all of us got caught in a compromising state. I wake up every day at dawn to train, so I was already awake when the prince went trolling for victims."

Merlin shook his head, "Still, what a prat."

As both mused over the words, Kay trying to hide a grin from the nonchalant way the boy beside him insulted the prince, the toe of Merlins boot caught the top of a tree root, sending the boy sprawling across the forest floor, sword clattering noisily in front of him.

Arthur turned around upon hearing the tell-tale clatter of a sword thrown haphazardly against a rock. Rolling his eyes at the sight of his manservant on the ground, Arthur bent down to pick up the mistreated sword.

"Really Merlin, only you could fall over face first when walking at the pace of a snail. Look at this sword, it's all blunt at the edges now." Tutted the prince.

"Don't know what you're complaining about," muttered Merlin as took the hand offered by Sir. Kay and pulled himself off the ground, "I'm the one who's going to have to sharpen and polish it anyway."

Arthur raised an eyebrow, "Well whose fault is it that swords blunt? Besides, you know it is part of your job description as my manservant to keep maintenance of my swords. Or did you let your mental affliction get in the way again and you've simply forgotten?"

Ignoring the eye roll, the prince walked towards Merlin, taking over as he looked with a small glimmer of concern in his eyes, prodding limbs and checking for injuries.

"I'm fine."

Arthur nodded, handing the spare sword back to his manservant, "No apparent injuries."

Surveying his surroundings, Arthur beckoned his knights.

"We'll stop here for a break and breakfast and we'll resume the hunt in an hour. Gawain, you scout north for any dangers, Leon, you scout east, I'll take west and Kay you take south. Everybody circle back in no more than fifteen minutes"

The knights nodded, taking off slowly in their assigned directions, though stopping at the provisions bag Merlin had just taken off his back to sneak a drink of water from the leather canteens.

Merlin frowned, "What about me, which direction do I go?"

Snorting Arthur started to head West, "You're not to move. That way you can't possibly trip over anything and end up in the stomach of a wild boar."

Sulking, Merlin strolled over to sit on a log, adding to his list of reasons to give Arthur the silent treatment.

Sir. Kay, who was the last one to drink from the canteen, was still finishing up when the rest of the knights and the prince had headed off. Seeing the talkative manservant sulking on the log, Sir. Kay chuckled.

"You do realise you get to just sit here and enjoy the sun while to rest of us have to walk to the scrub and do all the work, right?"

To the knight's surprise, Merlin let out an exasperated sigh.

"It's boring and pointless sitting here though, there's nothing to do and no one to talk to. And I'm completely capable of scouting as well, I'm not a girl."

Kay let out a small smile, he quite liked Merlin. The knights were brilliant company, but the ones who weren't up tight were a small crowd and he never really met anyone new as peasants tended to either avoid knights or treat them in a polite manner which immediately made it so that no friendship could be formed without uneasiness hanging in the air.

Looking around cautiously for the prince and deciding that no harm could possibly come from it, Kay turned towards Merlin,

"You can come with me if you like. Nothing ever happens on a scout and it'd be nice to have someone to talk to."

Grinning, Merlin stood up eagerly, and the two headed off into the woods.

Merlin laughed, eyes crinkling as Kay finally gave in and the two were bursting into fits of laughter. Any awkwardness between them had disappeared quickly after a bit of chatting and now the two were exchanging stories. Kay had just told Merlin about the time his unfortunate brother had fallen in love with a girl, only to discover after a month of wooing that the said girl was really a boy who took pleasure in dressing up as a lady. Completely off-guard and in a dangerous false sense of security, Merlin let out a surprised yelp as Kay, who no matter in what situation possessed the acute alertness of a trained knight of Camelot, pushed him out of the way.

Stunned, Merlin looked up in time to see Kay take a glancing blow from the creature's right paw before stepping back and drawing out a sword, standing protectively in front of his new friend.

"Merlin, do you happen to have brought that spare sword with you?"

Merlin groaned, "I left it at the campsite."

Cursing, Kay, kept eye contact with the beast in front of him, wondering whether to attack now or to wait until it attacked him first so he could catch it on the offence. The creature was unidentifiable, talons ran from its neck down to its two flickering tails, an obvious creature of magic.

Deciding to attack first, Sir. Kay took a lunge forward, striking his sword at the shoulder of the beast, only to have mythical animal rear back in anger and take another swipe at him. Kay moved quickly out of the way, the realisation that the sword had barely scraped the thing dawned on him and he realised that there was minimal chance he would get out of this alive.

Not breaking eye contact with the beast again, Kay spoke out loud to Merlin, feeling quite sorry that he had brought his new friend into this mess,

"It's a creature of magic, I can't kill it. I'll never be able to out run it but you can try make a break for it and it tries going after you I'll do my best to distract it."

Merlin panicked when he watched the sword bounce harmlessly off the skin of the beast. Kay's heroic words had confirmed his suspicion that the creature was made of magic but he was horrified at the suggestion that he leave his friend to die.

Swallowing nervously, the young warlock stretched out his arm.

"Jesus Merlin, what the hell are you doing, run for it!"

Just as the creature lunged at Kay, it's mouth open and sharp teeth baring, Merlin's eyes flashed golden, words pouring effortlessly out of his mouth.

Kay gasped as the massive beast hit an invisible barrier. Roaring in pain as a golden glow surrounded its body, the beast howled before setting off quickly into the distance, prey completely forgotten about.

Turning around he saw the remnants of gold disappear from the raven-haired boy's eyes. Lowering his hand, the boy stepped back, fear evident in his voice.

"I can explain."

Kay picked up his sword. Staring accusingly at what he thought was his friend; he quickly took a defensive battle stance. "Magic." He hissed

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** :D How was that? Worth reviewing over? I hope so :p**

**Hands up if you're dying from the lack of new Merlin episodes like me D; I hope they come out with a trailer soon**


	2. Chapter 2

**D: Sorry for the long-ish wait. I'm afraid the next chapter and the one after that might take longer for me to write because I have an important exam coming up. Still, they won't take more than two weeks each for me to put up, and after the exam, updates should become more frequent (at least one chapter per week?). I was really shocked (and touched, must not forget touched. Oh and happy) at the response I got for the first chapter :D, thank you all so much for reviewing and story alerting etc. Here's the second chapter which might not be as good as the first :/ I'm bad at writing confrontation/intense/dramatic moments. Onwards to chapter two!:**

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Kay tightened the grip on his sword, feet shifting into a quick defensive stance as he realised he had no idea what he was doing. He had been in Arthurs training for years, and though Camelot was a strictly anti-magic kingdom he had never really been taught specifics on what to do when faced with a sorcerer and until now he had never noticed that the kingdoms lack of knowledge on magic was really a rather big disadvantage, it made them sitting ducks. As he mentally flicked through his years of training for a better strategy than just running forward, striking and hoping for the best, it dawned on Sir. Kay that the sorcerer had yet to attack. Suddenly suspicious at the lack of the vicious and merciless attacks sorcerers had the reputation of having, the knight growled.

"What are you doing?"

Kay noted that the boy looked rather confused before his mouth shaped into an O, almost as if he didn't even consider the thought of attacking. To make things even more complicated, Sir. Kay could almost swear that the sorcerer had something akin to fear and sadness in his eyes.

"Please Kay, I'm still me, I'm still Merlin."

Kay's ears twitched, trying to analyse what the sorcerer was on about.

Then a bird chirped somewhere in the trees.

Looking back, Kay could see how his next move was a slight overreaction to the situation.

On edge already, Kay took the sound as an attack, some sort of beginning to a horrific spell which would bring the end of Camelot. Changing battle stances he lurched forward. Run and attack. But in the small period of time before the beginning of the run and the end of the strike, something triggered in Kay's mind. _I'm still me, I'm still Merlin. _Merlin. As he raised his sword to strike, he looked down at the boy with the raven hair and the gangly limbs, and it dawned on his that he _was _still Merlin, who sorcerer or not, was someone he strangely could not bring himself to kill

With a strangled cry, Kay dropped his sword, kicking it in frustration. Trust him to chicken out at the last second. He was probably going to die a horrible death now. Still, he couldn't help but feel a niggling feeling of gladness that he hadn't struck the clumsy look servant in front of him.

Not knowing whether to feel uneasy or glad at the sight of relief that washed through the warlock, Kay sighed uncomfortably and settled for leaning against a nearby tree and avoiding eye contact.

"Of all people, Merlin, why did you have to be a sorcerer?"

Merlin let out a hollow laugh, "Sometime I ask myself the same thing. You know, I was born like this? My mum said that I could move things with my eyes when I was still a baby."

There was a delayed silence as the suspicion towards sorcerers that was drilled into him as a child flooded the knight's mind.

"I didn't know that was possible," said Kay quietly.

Straining to keep the rising anxiousness out of his eyes, Kay turned towards the sorcerer in front of him.

"If you're lying to me, if you conjured up that _thing _back there to kill be but for some reason changed your mind, if you're here to hurt Camelot.."

Merlin cringed, thoughts of the beautiful streets of Camelot flowing into his mind. The small children that would play in the green fields as their mothers sat by the rivers washing clothes and gossiping with each other, the rough stones that made up the castle walls that seemed to hold so much history and so many secrets, and last of all, Arthur, who he admitted he felt something towards, though he was pretty sure it was just strong friendship. How could someone even suggest hurting Camelot?

"I would never hurt you. I would never hurt Camelot, you have to trust me."

Cursing himself for believing him, a sheer act of betrayal to the King, Kay decided that if he was going to be a traitor, he may as well acquaint himself with the side he was slowly shifting to.

"Who else knows about your.. you know," Kay screwed up his face, "magic."

Seeing his friend's face, Kay instantly regretted the way in which he had spat the word out.

Fidgeting nervously, Merlin opened and closed his mouth,

"How do I know you're not going to turn them in?"

With some annoyance, Kay huffed, "Look, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but if I can trust you not to wipe me off the face of the Earth with a flick of your hand and some fancy words it would be nice to know that you could trust me enough not to snitch on your friends."

Merlin shook his head, speaking with determination "You're right, I'm sorry, I just..don't want them to get hurt. Gaius knows, my mother and Lancelot."

Kay frowned, recalling Lancelot as man who defeated the griffin and left Camelot as abruptly as he came. Trying to figure out how one could form a close enough bond with someone of different blood to confide in about having magic, Kay's mind flickered to the prince.

"Wow, you told Lancelot but you didn't tell Prince Arthur?"

Merlin sighed, "It's not like that. I didn't tell Gaius or Lancelot, they both just sort of found out."

"Like me." Said Kay, letting a small smile creep on to his face.

Merlin returned the smile, "Like you."

"Don't you ever want to tell him though?"

"Who, Arthur? All the time. Sometimes I just want to walk into his room with a sign around me saying "I'm a sorcerer" whilst yelling it and simultaneously doing magic. But what kind of person would I be to put him in a position where he has to decide between me and his father?"

Merlin looked into Kay's eyes, his own blue ones tinged with a slight sadness, "What if he chooses his father?"

By this point, the two were standing quite comfortably together, all traces of suspicion and hanging death sentences forgotten about.

"You and the prince, you have this bond that," Kay paused, he couldn't really put his finger on it let alone explain it to someone else, "I don't know, just if you told him I don't think he'd execute you. And if he knows, you don't have to hide yourself as much, everyone who plays a big role in your life would know about your secret."

Merlin frowned, "I can't take that chance, I can't leave Camelot Kay, the prat would die without me, I've saved his life over twenty times you know."

Kay whistled, "Saving my life _and_ the crown prince of Camelot's. You're a life saving machine Merlin."

Merlin laughed, "I've saved Gaius' and Uther's lives as well, not to mention my whole village."

Grinning, Kay shook his head in disbelief, "Christ Merlin, now you're just bragging. What do you want, a promotion to deity?"

Chuckling, Merlin performed a simple spell he had mastered as child that allowed him to hover a few inches above the ground, "That would be nice."

Kay opened his mouth in awe as he watched his friend, his initial fear of magic having turned into fascination, "What else can you do?"

Merlin performed a few small tricks. Feeling like he could truly be himself for the first time in a while, Merlin chanted the spells with glee at the enormous relief that there was finally someone in Camelot besides Gaius that he didn't have to hide from.

Talking animatedly, Kay and Merlin walked into the campsite, only to be interrupted as Sir. Gawain launched himself at the latter.

"You're back!"

Merlin raised an eyebrow, "Uhm, yeh, I suppose I am?"

Gawain shook his head, "The Prince was panicking when he came back and you were gone, we all thought you were taken by bandits. He ran off into the woods to find you, left his sword behind and everything. I was to stay here in case the bandits came back to ask for ransom."

Before Merlin could react, Arthur with Sir. Leon in tow bursted in through the trees. Kay was surprised to see that never before had he seen quite the same intensity of fear in the Princes eyes.

"Leon, you head back and send for more knights, ask Geoffrey to release an official notice of an award for the safe return of.."

Arthur paused as he saw his manservant standing in front of him with a bewildered half smile, head slightly cocked to the side. Feeling immense relief wash over him, Arthur allowed himself to break into smile before flicking his manservant on the head.

"Where the bloody hell have you been? I almost thought I'd have to hire a new servant, you know, one who actually does work."

"They'd quit and moved out of the kingdom after a day of exposure to your prat-like nature." Retorted Merlin on instinct.

Arthur hid a smile as he rolled his eyes,

"You still haven't said where you went gallivanting off to."

Merlin grinned sheepishly, "Sorry about that, but I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal. I went scouting with Kay."

Kay shifted nervously as Arthur's cold stare landed on him, flitting between him and his oblivious manservant , all trace of humour in his face gone.

"You were with Kay the whole time?"

Merlin smiled and nodded.

"When did you two get back?" asked Arthur casually.

Merlin shrugged, "About the same time you and Leon came back."

A dark look shadowed the princes face for a moment, complete unnoticed by Merlin.

Turning towards Kay, Arthur changed to his Prince mode, showing little emotion.

"You were due back twenty minutes ago. You have shown disregard of the Knight's conduct by disobeying my orders. In future, you will stick to times as given, understood?"

Kay straightened his posture, standing firmly, "Yes sire. I apologize, I lost track of time and it will not happen again."

Arthur nodded curtly, his eyes flitting quickly to Merlin before focusing back on Kay.

"Scouting is to be done individually unless I specify."

The prince turned to the rest of the party,

"We will return to Camelot after we've eaten."

Turning around without another word, the Prince made his way over to retrieve his abused sword that was lying quietly on the forest floor.

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**:o Did you like it? I didn't want to make Arthur too OOC by making him super-obvious-in-your-face-jealous, but you will see more of jealous Arthur as the rest of the story goes on, so fear not :) Tell me what you think, ok?**

***P.S. Who else is super excited about what will happen when Merlin and Morgana meet again :D?**

****P.P.S. This story is set after season two, so yes, Morgana is not in Camelot and everything else that happened in season 2 has happened as well  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Argrarah, sorry this chapter took so long to put up, you're all amazing for still reading and reviewing :D! Nothing really yet happens in this chapter, it's more of a build up to give more depth? Yeh, I have no idea what I'm talking about :l I also have no idea what I'm saying when I'm talking about swords**

**Anyway, here's chapter three, enjoy!:  
**

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"..and like my father always said, it's best to use one hand when wielding a straight double edged sword. There's more flexibility that way, and even if you can argue.."

Arthur clawed subtly at the expensive leather hilt of his sword, a habit he had picked up as a child when he was expected to restrain himself from loosing composure. As he forced himself to keep distance from the chattering pair consisting of his manservant and, irritating as he was right now, one of his best knights Sir. Kay, the attempt at revival of their previous conversation about swords and battle strategies from Sir. Gawain went completely unnoticed.

"..that there's less control one could question why you are wielding such advanced weaponry if you cannot control it. Speaking of father, he recently visited Mercia and he told me they have the most peculiar technique of..."

Arthur cursed himself for letting such a little thing such as his manservant talking to another man make him so unbelievably annoyed inside. He continued to curse, though changing the victim this time to Kay, as the knight swung his arm around the slim shoulders of his friend. Eager to know what was so interesting that the pair were whispering and being so close, Arthur cursed once again, this time at the inability to lip-read and the lack of super hearing powers.

"..shaping the sword in a way so that it is.." Gawain trailed off as he realised that he had been speaking for about ten minutes without getting a response. Swivelling his head in a quick manner as to see what happened to his companion, Gawain was embarrassed to see that the Prince was not even looking his way. Falling silent, Gawain snuck a nervous glance at his surroundings and was relieved to see that no one seemed to notice his failure at conversation. Turning slightly red from the prospect of having talked to himself for about ten minutes, Gawain vowed he'd keep his mouth shut for the rest of the journey back to Camelot. After about a minute of unbearable silence, save for Kay and Arthur's manservant Merlin whispering in the front, Gawain being Gawain, broke his personal vow of silence and attempted once more at engaging the Prince in conversation.

"Nice weather today, I can see why you felt like hunting.."

Silence.

"Apparently Lutia has the most brilliant fruit delicacies available only in the month of Autumn.."

Arthur trained his ear on the conversation happening between Merlin and Kay. Lip-reading was no longer an option as they had moved their way in front of him, not that it was particularly useful anyway. From what Arthur had decoded from the fine art of lip-reading, Merlin and Kay were talking about a banana and a taris or a tardis, whatever the hell that was.

Sighing, Gawain lapsed back into silence, idly letting his eyes wonder before landing them on the dark haired servant and Sir. Kay.

"After that whole scouting thing, Merlin and Kay have sure gotten close."

He was just speaking now, be damned if no one was going to respond, it's not like they were listening anyway so he couldn't come off as crazy. But as soon as the words left his tongue, he received the full attention of the Prince who almost wildly snapped his head around.

"Merlin? Who's looking at Merlin? What were you talking about?"

Arthur mentally cringed as the words rushed out of his mouth a touch more defensive than he intended.

Gawain raised an eyebrow, "I was just saying how close Merlin and Kay were now," said the knight slowly.

The joy of talking caught on quickly for Gawain,

"Maybe they'll start courting each other," mused Gawain, "then I'll finally be able to invite someone besides Percival and Rosemary to my wife's couple feast. She's always complaining that I don't know enough people and how she gets bored of all the couples she knows."

Gawain clapped his hands excitedly, as he let his small fantasy play out.

"Percival is always talking to his wife, but now I'll have someone to talk to on the night. I've tried sneaking in Kay before but Martha caught me out. And I suppose Merlin could be a good laugh, I've heard that he's quite nice actually."

Oblivious to the dark expression that was growing on Arthur's face, and again to the fact that no one was responding to his conversation, Gawain continued to speculate about the potential couple.

"Do you think they really like each other? I hope they last till Martha's dinner.."

Arthur, staring straight ahead with hard eyes and his lips draw in a thin line, scoffed.

"Don't hold your breath, you'd have to be a complete idiot to fall in love with Merlin."

Before Gawain could open his mouth again, Arthur broke into a quick, stiff stride, making his way slowly out of sight. Puzzled at the sudden bitter departure, Gawain stood still for a moment before breaking into a grin as he spotted Leon who had taken a small detour before to collect some wormroot for his elderly mother,

"Leon! How's the wormroot? Did you go by the.."

Leaning against the castle gates, Arthur let his mind wander to his relationship with Merlin. Despite the constant insults they threw at each other, Merlin was a friend. In fact, sad as it may sound, Merlin, his bloody _manservant_, was his best friend and sometimes his only. When Morgana, who he considered the only other stable person in his life that he could trust, was kidnapped, presumed dead, then finally forgotten about, Merlin had been the only person he let see him cry. If he was being pessimistic and cynical, he could say it was because Merlin just happened to be around when he decided to let his feelings out. If he was being truthful though, he let Merlin see him like that because he was the only person who didn't judge him. It was during that time period, when he had spent the nights silently crying in Merlins comforting embrace that he had realised he may have felt something more towards his goofy manservant than friendship. But as he was taught from a young age, Arthur brushed his feelings aside, dismissing them as just a weird form of possessive friendship.

An intrusive burst of laughter took Arthur's eyes to Merlin and Kay who were approaching the castle gates. Leaning casually against the post, Arthur waited for the witty remark that his manservant tended to greet him with however was left hanging as the pair walked straight past him. Slightly dejected, Arthur felt the ever present tinge of annoyance at Kay who at this moment had captured Merlin's attention away from him. Stalking behind the two, Arthur made to swat his manservant on the head, his hand landing a lot softer than he had first intended.

"Job, Merlin. Some people have them, like you for example."

Rubbing his head forlornly, Merlin turned around to see a familiar head of blond hair.

"Ow? You couldn't just say my name like a civilised person could you?" drawled Merlin in friendly sarcasm.

Arthur felt his initial annoyance ebb away, Merlin had that effect on him,

"No, I couldn't, I'm a prat remember?"

Merlin gasped, placing a hand on his heart in mock excitement, "Finally, we have a breakthrough. Your father would be so proud."

Arthur smiled, "Now we just need you to admit what an idiot you are and then all will be well."

Merlin poked out his tongue, it never ceased to amaze him that he actually quite liked it when Arthur threw insults at him, though they were usually in good humour anyway. More than anything, they seemed to be confirmations from each other that they were still close enough that blatant insults like "prat" and "idiot" didn't really have a meaning to them.

Turning towards Kay, he couldn't help but feel a tiny pit of disappointment that it was not Arthur who finally knew about his magic. However, Kay knowing and accepting him also meant he finally had someone to talk to about his magic who wasn't constantly mixing foul smelling potions or scaly and spoke in cryptic riddles.

"See you after?" said Merlin almost shyly, head cocked to the side and still unsure if the whole i'm-completely-fine-with-your-magic-thing was just a ruse conjured up out of fear.

To his relief Kay smiled knowingly, nodding, "Come to my place when you're done."

Feeling slightly intimidated and confused as the Prince's cold, calculating stare trained itself dead set on his eyes, Kay gave the two a brief head nod, shifting nervously on his feet, "Er, I'll be going then?"

As day slowly disappeared, Merlin couldn't help feel that his list of chores was substantially larger than normal. In fact, he could almost swear that whenever he looked back onto the beaten down parchment in which Arthur had messily scribbled down a long list of usual chores, followed by completely meaningless tasks such as "_Fold all clothes in a different manner_", another time-consuming job was added to the bottom of the list.

Sighing as he started the incredibly slow task of carefully undoing the seams of a pillow so that he could "re-stuff" it, Merlin edged his way closer to Arthur who was currently drafting up some sort of a castle balance and a new tax proposal.

"I don't even know how I'm meant to do this."

Arthur continued to sketch out his plans, replying without looking up.

"Are you daft Merlin? Just take out the feathers and then re-stuff them."

"With what?"

Arthur shrugged, "With the feathers you take out from the other pillows."

He could almost physically hear Merlin roll his eyes and almost certainly heard him mutter something along the lines of "impossible prat". To be honest, he hadn't even thought it through. It was just that whenever he snuck a glance at his manservant's list he noticed that he was alarmingly close to finishing and always on impulse he found himself writing down another random, time-consuming task. He convinced himself that it was not because he was trying to keep Merlin meeting Kay, no, it was because..he just wanted his pillows re-stuffed, was that so much to ask?

Halfway through his second pillow, Merlin grew bored and began to absently talk about his day to Arthur, something the Prince secretly enjoyed usually however this time round found increasingly irritating.

"Did you know Kay is fluent in French?"

Arthur mumbled, trying to block out Merlin's voice, "Mmhmm."

"He said he'd teach me. I already know parts of the language because my mother use to teach me in her spare time but I'm not where as good as Kay is."

"Mmhmmm"

"He can read as well. I know most nobles can but he reads for pleasure, he said he has a whole collection of books in his house."

Arthur fought the urge to strangle Merlin on the spot. Instead he continued to mumble, hoping that Merlin would realise that Kay was really the last person he wanted to hear praised right now.

"Mmhmmm."

"I always thought most of your knights were a little conceited but Kay is brilliant."

Unable to listen to anymore about the _wonderful_ Kay, Arthur gathered up his things silently, walking out of the room.

Merlin, confused at the sudden departure, sensed there was something Arthur was upset about it. Using magic to quickly sew the pillows back together, the sorcerer stepped into the stony corridors in search of the Prince.

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**D; I hope that wasn't too boring, but i didn't want to rush into things just yet. If you want, tell me what you thought about it, reviews always make me happy and want to write more :)**

**P.S Who spotted the doctor who reference :D?  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ew, dodgy chapter D; Sorry guys, whenever I start a long story I always get writers block and one or two of the chapters often suffer the consequences. Bear with me though, and also I'm officially on holidays now so I'll have more time to plan out the rest of the story and write chapters :D **  
**I hope you guys get at least a little enjoyment out of this chapter 3 enjoy:**

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Merlin flashed a small awkward smile at the scrawny kitchen hand as he flitted past him for fifth time. Letting out an exasperated sigh, he peeked into Arthur's chambers, hoping to find the Prince calmly sitting down and working again. Scanning the empty chambers quickly, Merlin rolled his eyes, if only the bloody prat would put as much effort into avoiding detection from the things that wanted to kill him every second day. Running up the North corridor stairs, Merlin stopped abruptly to stick his head out of the window, hoping to spot the familiar head of golden blond hair. The busy streets of Camelot, with their bright, homely market stores dotting the roads was stunning in the sun-light however was missing the presence of their crown-prince. The brief pause in his now hour long search made him suddenly aware of how tired he was, and the servant let himself rest, his upper body hanging loosely outside the small window.

The young boy who stood outside the kitchens peeling potatoes gazed curiously at the odd raven-haired man who seemed to be walking in a loop. He had already made a game of seeing how many potatoes he could peel before he saw that tiny, almost apologetic smile pass him again, and was up to fourteen before a loud crash sounded inside the kitchen and a grinning man burst through the doors with his arms full of baked treats. Pausing to give a one armed salute, the young man who was most likely a knight tossed a freshly-baked cookie at the thin kitchen hand before darting away.

Kay laughed as he felt the thrill of excitement rush through him, ignoring the angry yells and empty threats that echoed behind him. After coaxing and badgering the giggly doe-eyed maids for a full half-hour in hopes of receiving a slice or two of the magnificent cake that stood seductively on kitchen counter, Kay had almost succeeded, only to be shot down by the plump head chef who had waved her wooden spoon threateningly in the background, as if she were daring him to even try. Moping in the corner, his eyes were drawn to a small plate of biscuits that lay unguarded near the door. With a new determination not to go away empty handed, and more importantly, hungry, Kay had made his way subtly to the plate, grabbing a handful before gleefully sprinting out the door with his prize.

Rounding the corner, the knight let out a yelp as he nearly ran into what seemed to resemble a dead body half hanging out the window. The figure, startled by the sudden noise, reeled itself back into the corridor, eyes wide and flickering around for signs of trouble. Kay, upon seeing that the dead body was not a dead body but a highly powerful wizard by the name of Merlin, breathed a sigh of relief.

"What the hell were you doing?"

Merlin, whose hair was dishevelled and messy, courtesy of the wind had a tinge of worry in his eyes.

"Looking for Arthur."

Kay handed Merlin a cookie, and the manservant absently bit into it, looking distracted as if his mind was working hard at figuring out something.

"Something happened, not sure what, and he just walked out of his chambers without saying anything and I haven't been able to find him since and.." Merlin trailed off, noticing that for some reason he had a half-eaten cookie in his hand.

Kay frowned, "He's probably just stressed over the new tax plans, it's probably better just to leave him alone."

Merlin mumbled some sort of an agreement absently, wondering whether he should ride out into the forest to search for Arthur. As he nibbled on his cookie, Merlin looked quizzically at the assortment of food sitting peacefully in the arms of his friend.

"Where'd you get all the food from?"

Kay smiled sheepishly, "Kitchens?"

Merlin moaned, "You didn't."

Kay continued to grin.

Throwing his arms up dramatically, Merlin threw the remainder of his cookie outside the window.

"I can't believe you fed me that, you've made me a fugitive."

Kay tutted, "That's right, you're who all the cooks fuss over in the kitchen. Adorable Merlin, completely innocent and so very helpful. See now if you were there with me before I bet that chef would have been begging for us to take that cake."

Merlin stared at the knight with a genuine look of horror.

Smirking, Kay crammed another biscuit into Merlin's mouth, "Welcome to the dark side."

Kay sniggered, "What the hell is a clotpole anyway?"

After much persuasion, Merlin had abandoned his search for the prince and the pair had since retreated back to Kay's house. Merlin went because he had a paranoid sensation that the cooks were now hunting in the corridors for him, and Kay because he wanted to eat whilst sitting down. A while had passed since all the food had been devoured, a gallant solo effort from Kay, and the two were now chatting around the knight's bed, Kay curiously noting that Merlin seemed to talk a lot about the Prince.

From his position on the floor, Merlin lazily threw a pillow in the general direction of the knight's voice, "Shut up, it was the first thing that came in to my mind."

Still snickering, Kay threw the pillow back, "If only we were friends back then, I would have kicked his arse for you."

Merlin shook his head, "crazy, sorcerer bird man, remember?"

"You're a sorcerer and I could take you in a fight, doubt I couldn't beat that guy."

"Oh come on, I'm magical, I can make a bloody griffin come out of your arse."

Kay snorted, "Yeh, but you're useless with a sword, I've seen you. And let's face it, if you're fighting in Camelot, you're going to be using a sword." Pausing, Kay shifted himself into a more comfortable position, "Can you really do it though?" pondered the knight."

"Do what?"

Kay grinned, excitement rising up in his voice, "Make a griffin come out of my arse."

Raising his eyebrows, Merlin ignored his friends seemingly positive view on the matter, "I hope not. Anyway, who says I can't use magic in a sword fight? I've done it before," as images of his first encounter with Arthur flooded him, Merlin let out a fond smile, "in fact I nearly beat Arthur once."

Kay, now craning his neck to face the grinning raven haired servant had a look of pure disbelief on his face, "No way!"

Merlin continued to grin, "Uh huh."

Still not believing, albeit now also grinning, the knight felt excitement creep into him, "Prove it."

"I'll help you win a sword fight."

"Today! We can do it during night training."

Night training was something Arthur had introduced to his knights not long ago, it was basically an hour of training as the sun set and then afterwards fights were held between the knights in the night in order for them to get used to fighting in the dark. As allocated, today Kay would be fighting. Merlin, hyped up at the idea of using his magic for something other than chores and saving Camelot, nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

Before they could plan anything elaborate, Gawain swung open the door, bounding happily as he always did when he had some new secret or rumour to reveal to the other knights.

"KAY, you won't believe.." Gawain trailed off as he slowly took in the sight of Kay and Arthur's manservant lying together on the bed. Well, Merlin was lying partially on the floor, with only his feet propped up on the bed and Kay was lying with his head dangling off the edge. It was an odd way to end up after well, doing what couples do, but who was he to judge? At the confirmation in his head that the two were a couple now, Gawain sighed happily at the prospect of having Kay and Merlin at his couples dinner. Then mustering up what he thought was a look of understanding, knowing and teasing all mixed up, Gawain grinned at the pair. Merlin and Kay interpreted it as a look somewhere between constipation and happiness.

With the look still plastered on his face, Gawain winked, "Just you two kids remember that training is in ten minutes, ok?"

By now, Merlin and Kay were standing up next to each other. Gawain, not wanting to intrude on such an intimate moment any longer proceeded to back out of the door, adding the suggestive wiggling of his eye brows into the mixture of looks and winks.

Merlin nudging Kay with his hand, whispered, "What's wrong with his eyebrows?"

Shrugging discreetly, Kay whispered back, "I don't know, but it's creeping me out."

Arthur inspected the hilt of his sword sullenly, noting that his habit of clawing at it was slowly coming back. Savouring the last of the sunlight, the prince scanned the courtyard once more, refusing to let the absence of a particular person worry him. Staring dejectedly at the empty spot of which Merlin usually occupied when waiting for training to finish, Arthur mentally kicked himself for letting the idiot out of his sight earlier. Knowing him, he was probably somewhere lying in a ditch right now. Contemplating whether or not to start training or to make his knights wait while he searched for his manservant, a infectious familiar laugh interrupted his thoughts. With a suppressed grin, Arthur turned around to face the source of the laughter, only to see it was accompanied by another figure. Scowling, Arthur looked away angrily. Of course. Merlin had probably ran to the brilliant Kay the moment he had left the room.

"Sorry we're late sire, we didn't realise the time."

Arthur made a point to ignore Kay, fearing that if he opened his mouth something very un-princely like would escape his mouth. Instead the prince adopted his stern face of indifference, motioning to his knights to start training.

In the majority of the training session, Arthur found himself targeting Kay. He was exaggerating small flaws and attacking harder than necessary when demonstrating a move on the knight with no other reason than for some reason Kay's face really irritated him. Deciding to leave off for a break before he killed the bloody knight, Arthur noticed Merlin bored and sitting on ground as always, however this time he was trailing his fingers in the dirt. Walking over, the prince sat down next to his manservant, smirking at the poor stick figures that littered the ground.

"Considering taking the path of an artist, are we Merlin?"

Startled, Merlin withdrew his hand from the ground, unaware that he was even drawing. Smiling, he looked down at his creation before poking his tongue out at the prince,

"Better than anything you've ever done."

Arthur grinned, "Oh yeah?"

His fingertip resting on the ground, the prince began to draw in a trance, a picture of just himself and Merlin, alone with no distractions, under the stars.

"What's that hell is that meant to be?"

Arthur shrugged, formulating a quick story in his mind, "It's me training, but obviously we couldn't expect you to figure that out, not with your non-existent mind. Peering over, Arthur looked over at Merlins picture.

"See, now I'm going to have to ask you what that is because it just looks like you decided it would be fun to make scratches in the dirt.

Merlin, staring down at his picture, knew immediately it was himself performing magic in front of Arthur, and the two of them laughing together. Less capable of making up things on the spot, Merlin stared at the picture dumbly, "Umm, it's a chicken?"

Laughing, Arthur shook his head, "I wonder what goes through that mind of yours."

Merlin grinned, pushing the picture out of his head, "Don't have one remember?"

"Explains a lot."

Seeing that the sun had finally set, Arthur waved his sword to stop his knights. Feeling a sudden fondness towards Merlin, Arthur decided to give him the night off. After all, there was no real need for him to be there, and truth be told he only made Merlin attend because he liked the presence of the gangly servant and his impossibly large ears. But of course he would never tell him that, no, he would stick to the conclusion Merlin had come up with which was that he did it because it was in his prat-like nature to.

"You can go now if you want, I give you permission to leave."

To his surprise, Merlin, who made no secret of how boring he thought training was, shook his head, a grin creeping onto his face.

"Actually, I want to stay tonight. Kay's fighting isn't he?"

There was a small silence as a sort of mood washed over the Prince's face before a short "Yes" was voiced.

Turning towards his knights, the prince motioned to Bedevere and Kay to begin fighting.

Much to his disappointment, he noticed that Kay was winning. The knight seemed quicker than usual and his attacks were well placed as if he were fighting in the daylight and not in darkness.

Hearing the enthusiastic cheers beside him, Arthur felt a pang of jealousy. Merlin had only ever cheered for him and that was only ever on rare occasions.

As Kay brought down the final attack, his sword tip placed perfectly on the nape of Bedeveres neck, Merlin let out a particularly loud cheer, punching a fist into the air.

Kay who was grinning like mad, gave Merlin the thumbs up and as if timed, the two burst into excited laughter as if they shared some sort of an inside joke.

Grimacing, Arthur turned away as the irritating knight winked at his manservant. Seriously, he thought, who the hell still winks.

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**I hate writers block. I think the Merlin drought is starting to have it's effects on me D; COME ON PEOPLE, WE NEED A TRAILER.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! Thought I'd get this chapter out to you guys before I start school again :) It's a bit more angsty than normal, just so you know.**

**Anyway, as always, enjoy:**

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After successfully winning a quick round of coin flips that had taken place in the small, grimy kitchen of the 'Bad wolf pub', the victorious barmaid walked triumphantly towards the group of young men who had earlier been identified as knights. Stopping to grab the full platter of beer from the bar table, the barmaid involuntarily grinned as she noted the sulky expressions that dotted the faces of the losing waitresses. The glasses clinked together as the result of a flirtatious jump that had made its way into her step and the smiling brunette marched forward eagerly, ignoring the lustful, hungry eyes that had trained themselves on her and her slightly pulled lower than norm dress. Any other day she would have been happy to receive the attention of so many men, but today the usual rowdy merchants and blacksmiths that crowded the old pub were no match for the group of knights who rarely made an appearance there in such a large group.

Doing her best to show off as much as humanly possible when doing the simple task of handing out glasses of drink, the barmaid was sorely disappointed when she received not even a glance from the men. Not wanting to go away without at least a bit of gossip to bring back to the others, the waitress lingered around the table, subtly pretending to be buffing out a scratch on the silver platter with her finger. Sneaking a glance at the table, she noted that most of them were still somewhat sober, save for two or three who were obviously drunk. In fact, one of them already had their head balanced on the wooden table, eyes closed and hair in disarray. More surprisingly however, the man did not appear to be a knight. His frame was too slight and he lacked the knightly apparel of chain-mail armour and a gleaming sword. Noting his ordinary looking clothes, save for the bright red handkerchief that stuck out under his pale chin.. wait a second. The barmaid purposefully dropped the empty platter, looking up at the sleeping man from her angle from below, she confirmed that it was the Prince's personal manservant, Merlin. Standing up, the waitress took one last glance at the group before retreating back to the kitchens, curiously, she saw, the Prince's manservant was there, however the prince himself was not.

A roar of laughter erupted from the table as Sir Erec finished a rather good impression of Norris, the stuck up personal servant of the King who so often regarded himself as higher than a knight. In high spirits, the knights each took a large gulp from their newly acquired drinks. Gawain, one of the few knights who were already drunk, hiccupped as he giggled and pointed to the sleeping figure of Merlin that sat opposite him.

"Guysssss, look, Merlins sleeping!"

A chorus of laughter rippled through the group and Bedevere, who was on his god knows what number of rum and still sober, shook his head.

"If you ask me, a man who can't take more than one pint of good rum is about as useful as a maiden."

Another round of laughter rose from the group, but Kay who felt it was his job to defend the sleeping boy, because after all, he did save his life, frowned.

"You know, he's more competent than you think he is."

Bedevere grinned, winking as he playfully slung an arm around the unconscious manservant,

"Getting a touch defensive of your latest conquest, aren't you?"

Confused, Kay reddened, partially from embarrassment and partially from the all the drink, and stumbled to give a retort but was interrupted by Lamorak who was feeling sympathetic for the young knight.

"Don't fret Kay, I myself don't fancy, the uh same kind as you, but I can see why you have um.." the knight paused to motion to the sleeping figure in front of him, " .. taken to him."

"He is rather fetching," piped Sir Willard cheerfully, "what he lacks in competency I would say he makes up for with his looks."

Kay half giggled half scoffed at the absurdity of the situation, "You all think that Merlin and I are together?"

Those who were able, nodded, grinning widely from the buzz of warmth that the alcohol had given them. Before Kay could clear up the confusion, he was once again interrupted, this time by the extremely drunken Gawain who had taken to the same sleeping position Merlin was in, before bolting up, eyes wide awake.

"!"

Stifling their laughter, the group turned their attention away from the drunken spectacle of Gawain as he put his head back down, and back to their conversation.

"And he's.." Started Erec before Gawain's grinning face shot up again, this time shouting out a very long version of the word "beer" before going back down again.

"Anyway," continued Sir Erec, "he's got the courage of a lion. I mean, the way he stood up to the Prince that first day they met was just.."

"..amazing, " finished Cadaroc .

"Oh and Prince Arthur is always saying how amusing he is," added Sir Ector.

"Merlin and I aren't," Kay paused, hypnotically staring at the half full glass in front of him, about to take a sip when he remembered what he was doing, "nottlike that!" he slurred. The alcohol was finally taking a hold of his senses along with the rest of the groups and Kays denial was quickly lost amongst the animated chatter that dominated the table.

Late in the night, although the bright, loud atmosphere of the Bad wolf pub begged to differ, the group of drunken knights finally left the bar, Gawain singing gaily in the middle of them, much to everyone's dismay. Before leaving to their respective homes, the group of men, though drunk their knightly nobility still present, dropped the unconscious Merlin off in the unamused arms of Gaius.

Arthur bitterly stabbed the remainder of the bread, using it to mop up the juices left on his plate. He raised the fork to his mouth before putting it down again in an exasperating manner. He had gotten into an argument with his father the night before, and whilst his knights went out for a rare outing at one of the local pubs, an occasion that was only allowed during the quietest times of year when it would not matter if they lost their senses for one night, Arthur had spent the evening constantly subject to his father's ignorant views on political matters. On top of that, he had woken up hungry, having skipped dinner with his father as a sign of rebellion, and to his annoyance, the table on which his breakfast usually sat, was empty. Unable to wait for Merlin to come, he had hurriedly dressed himself before rushing down to the castle kitchens. On collecting a random plate of food in the bustling kitchen (for he had wanted to get back to eat as soon as possible; and that meant absolutely no fuss could be made), the princes presence among the kitchen staff went unknown and he allowed himself to linger for a brief moment as he caught wind of a few familiar names amongst the kitchens current gossip.

"..and that Sir Gawain, can't take much drink either. I heard Merlin was there as well, sweet boy fell asleep and they had to carry him home, can you imagine the height the physician's eyebrows would have risen to!"

Slightly confused, Arthur left the kitchens and began walking back to his chambers. Why on Earth would Merlin had been there? The only reason he would have gone was if he was there, but Merlin knew he had a meeting with Uther. Then it dawned on him that Sir Kay would have probably asked for Merlin to come along. Trying to ignore the bitter jealously that began to override his hunger, the Prince marched into his room and promptly began eating.

What seemed like an eternity later, but in reality was not long, his manservant burst into the room, stumbling as much as ever.

"Sorry Arthur, I woke up late with an enormous headache and Gaius wouldn't let me leave before I took all this medicine. You see I was out last night and.."

Arthur cut his manservant off with a wave of his hand.

"I know where you were." Said the prince coldly. "Merlin, we need to talk."

Sensing the tension, Merlin shifted uncomfortably. He had been late before, and though the welcome was not usually done with open arms and a jolly laugh, it had certainly never been this serious.

"..Ok?" he said meekly.

"You are damaging my reputation."

Merlin grinned, attempting to break the ice with a joke, "Didn't know you could go any lower than royal prat."

The witty reply that would have usually come afterwards went amiss as the prince stood up angrily from the mahogany wooden dining chair.

"The castle talks about your..your behaviour and it reflects badly on me."

"What.."

"I am the crown prince Merlin, I cannot have my servant dilly-dallying with one of my knights."

Merlin raised his hands,

"Whoah, hold up.."

"A knight is of nobility Merlin, it's dishonourable for them to be in that sort of relationship with a..a servant."

Merlin could not believe what he was hearing. Arthur, the man who he had thought had been his best friend, one of the few true friends he had, was speaking like his father, the very man who he had thought Arthur to be the least alike. The very man who wanted his kind dead and gone.

"Arthur, are you listening to what you're saying." Hissed Merlin.

"Merlin, do you honestly think that you have a future together with a _knight_?"

Fighting back angry tears, Merlin turned around abruptly before storming out the door.

The castle staff murmured curiously amongst themselves as they watched the prince's dark-haired manservant storm silently through the stone corridors.

Sir Kay who happened to be walking home from guard duty sensed the anger as the pale figure of his friend passed him in a blur. Running after him, Kay grabbed onto the crook of the mans elbow, spinning him around. Kay's mouth opened in a small, silent O as he took in the sight of the young warlocks tear streaked face and eyes that were brimming with what could only be described as hurt.

"What happened?" asked the knight in a stern voice, ready to kill whoever had caused this.

The boy opened his mouth, unable to formulate an answer before saying a single word,

"..Arthur."

Eyes softening, Sir Kay pulled the sorcerer softly along till they reached an empty part of the castle. Sitting down against the wall, Kay coaxed Merlin down alongside him.

"Nobody ever comes here unless there are guests in the castle, you can talk as freely as you want here. What happened Merlin?"

Merlin wiped back the angry tears that had formed suddenly in his eyes with the back of his hand, then he did what he hadn't done in a long time. He let his feelings out.

"I'm not his friend."

"Of course you-"

"I have saved his life so many times. And do you know what the best part is? I don't do it because he's a prince, I do it for him. I would still die for him if he were a homeless man on the streets."

Tears were now flowing freely down the warlocks pale face. Kay listened silently as he let his friend talk.

"But he see's me as nothing more than a servant." Suddenly tired, the anger left his body and he felt himself sag, "Nothing more," he whispered.

Kay wrapped his arms around the frail, shaking body, letting the boy bury his head into his shoulder.

"It's all my fault."

"Shhh, it's not your fault."

Merlin let out a dark laugh,

"No it is all my fault, I deserve this. I deserve all of this."

Kay drew his lips in a thin line, this was too much. Merlin was the most selfless person he knew and for the prince to do this to him was just horrible.

"Merlin, it is not your fault at all, you have done nothing but-"

Merlin interrupted with a whisper.

"Do you remember what happened to Morgana?"

Caught off guard, Kay stammered,

"Uh, she was taken away by an evil sorceress."

Merlin shook his head with a sad, watery smile.

"I poisoned her. I poisoned her and she would have died if Morgause didn't take her away to cure her."

Shocked, Kay remained still and the corridor fell silent, save for the small sobs that wracked through the body of the pale manservant. Finally, Kay broke the silence.

"Why..?"

"Arthur. Something about Morgana, some enchantment that she was somehow involved with was making everyone fall asleep. Arthur was going to fight Morgause's knights by himself, he was going to die so I almost killed her to break the curse."

Merlin made a strangled noise before breaking into new sobs, "She was my friend and I tried to _kill_ her!"

Kay worked to soothe the boy, saying the only words he could, "It's not your fault, it's not your fault.."

Merlin shook violently,

"It's _all_ my fault. I nearly got Gaius killed. For _my_ mistake. Gwen was accused of sorcery and almost burnt because of _me. _My father died saving_ me."_

Kay ran his hand up and down Merlins back, "Shh, it's not your fault.."

"Camelot almost fell because of me."

"Merlin, you have risked your life to save Camelot so many times –"

"I let the dragon loose, I cut the chains that bound him in the dungeon, because of me, so many people died."

Kay grimaced at the thought of the dragon that had tormented the city, however he had no doubt in his mind that Merlin had done it for a good reason.

"It's ok, shhh..."

"It's not ok, i'm a monster."

Kay tightened his grip on the warlock,

"You are not a monster, you're a hero, a good person, and everyone knows that, even Arthur."

Merlin shook his head, tears still streaking down his face,

"He doesn't know me, all the things i've done. I'm scared Kay, I'm scared he'll hate me when he finds out, that he won't talk to me anymore, that I won't see him again."

Pulling him closer, Kay rested his head on the younger man's soft hair whose head was still buried into his shoulder.

Arthur bit into his fist to quell the dread, anger and regret that clouded his mind. As soon as Merlin had left the room he had felt an incomprehensible surge of rage, causing him to thrash about his room, breaking all but the larger pieces of furniture. He hated himself for the things he had said, for the way he had acted and by god he was going to fix it. Like a man on a mission, the prince set off into the castle to look for his manservant.

After searching thoroughly in ever place he could think of, the Prince questioned some of the servants he passed and eventually got an answer that the young raven-haired boy was last seen heading towards the guest chambers.

Rounding the corner, Arthur pulled himself back as he saw the figure of Merlin sobbing into the shoulder of Sir Kay. From behind the wall, Arthur listened.

"...I'm scared he'll hate me when he finds out, that he won't talk to me anymore, that I won't see him again."

Sliding silently down against the wall, Arthur felt his usual emotional guard drop as he clamped his hand against his mouth to stop from making a noise. A few escaping tears ran down his cheek. It pained him so much to see Merlin so upset, and to hear those words come from his mouth made him hate himself more than ever.

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**It's 2am in the morning here, though you can probably tell that from the rushed ending =="**

**: D Tell me what you guys think though, ok?**

**(Oh and also tell me if you spotted anything ;) those who see it will know what I'm talking about )**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey readers! Oh, what's this, you've all been dead for about ten years? Yeh.. basically I know I haven't updated in a long time and that I suck. I hope people are still going to be reading this :/ though most of you have probably given up waiting. **  
**Anyway, this chapter is exciting! Just to make up for the lack of updates :)**  
**Enjoy!:**

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Merlin fidgeted nervously with his tattered brown jacket, attempting to brush out the small, natural creases that had never bothered him before. Having spent ten minutes with utmost concentration on the task, Merlin gave the still creased, worn out fabric a satisfactory final pat. Taking a deep breath, he turned the corner, only to immediately turn and retreat back to his former position. Sighing, Merlin ran a hand through his disarray of dark hair before kneeling down to buff out a non-existent mark on his right shoe. Mentally kicking himself for being such a coward, the young manservant slumped against the cold, stone walls of Camelot castle.

Burying his head into his hands, the warlock had a fleeting feeling of bitter amusement at the ridiculousness of the situation. Arthur had been the one to be a complete arse and yet here he was, wanting things to go back to normal, too scared to go back in case Arthur was still angry at _him_. Part of him was hoping that Arthur was searching for him now to apologise, but knowing Arthur, the prince was most likely just going about his daily life as if nothing had happened. He would turn up for his job tomorrow and by this time next week, things would be back to normal. In a way, Merlin preferred this. In the first option, god knows he'd probably trip up and end up blurting out his secret. Despite wanting to get it over and done with, to just go into Arthur's rooms and start folding that ridiculously red wardrobe of his, the image of Arthur shouting at him still hung at the back of his mind. It wasn't as if he was still angry with him, no, that had disappeared long ago amongst the tears and the comforting words of Kay, but it was more that there was every chance that this would not blow away so quickly this time. For all he knew, Arthur did not want him as his manservant anymore, and that was why Merlin Emrys could not turn that corner.

Cursing quietly, Arthur swiftly moved towards the drawer in which he kept the linen dressing, sucking on his bleeding thumb in an attempt to staunch the flow. He had cut himself whilst picking up the last of the shattered glass bowl on the floor. As much as he wanted to, he could not yet bring himself to face Merlin. So instead he had dedicated the best part of the afternoon tidying up his chambers, so at least when the goofy, raven-haired manservant turned up again he wouldn't have to do it. _If_ he ever turned up again. Cringing, Arthur quickly focused his newly free attention on folding his freshly laundered clothes. As long as he kept his mind busy, he would not have to face the possibility of Merlin disappearing from his life.

Halfway through re-polishing the windows, the sound of quickly approaching footsteps sounded outside his door. Turning around abruptly, Arthur stared nervously at the door, running through the apology lines in his head. As the door swung open, Arthur readied to burst into apology, only to find the fear crazed figure of his father. Arthur stepped back in confusion, his head swimming with the almost encounter with his manservant and best friend,

"..Father?"

"Gather the knights and come immediately to the hall, waste no time." Without a second to spare, the king turned around and set off down the corridor with a sense of urgency.

Merlin breathed in and out, regulating his breath. He had already spent quite a while talking to Kay, and even more time thinking by himself, and adding on the past hour or so he had spent around the corner from Arthur's rooms, the day would soon be over and he would have to live through a sleepless night before knowing how things would be in the morning. Straightening out his neckerchief, Merlin forced himself to turn the corner, taking rigid, awkward strides towards the wide doors. Resting his hand on the handle of the door, he began to push it open when the door opened on the other side. Opening his mouth in a sort of a frozen 'O' , Merlin was faced not with the princely figure of Arthur he had been expecting, but with the slightly hunched over, elderly figure of his guardian, Gaius.

"Gaius?"

The elderly physician raised an eyebrow,

"I sincerely hope so Merlin, otherwise I fear there may be something the matter with my mind."

"What are you.."

Gaius shook his head, "I've been trying to find you, I thought you'd be in Arthur's chambers tidying up."

Merlin nervously peered over the shoulder of his guardian,

"Is Arthur..?"

Gaius rolled his eyes, "Really Merlin, you're the personal servant of the man, you really need to pay more attention if you don't even know that he's in a meeting."

Merlin frowned, over the years he had developed a swift enough memory to remember ever single one of Arthur's meetings from the time they were planned, but of this particular meeting, he had no recollection whatsoever.

"What meeting?"

"I don't know all the details, but Uther called upon Arthur and all the knights into the hall for an urgent meeting. I thought since you would not be doing anything, you could go collect some wormroot for me while I attend to the some of the villagers in the south end of town."

Merlin found himself being pulled away from Arthur's chambers, and no more than fifteen minutes later, he found himself armed with a basket and a pair of useless, holey gloves.

"Hmm, maybe." Replied Kay offhandedly.

Not exactly noticing the lack of attention from his victim of choice, Gawain continued to speculate out loud about the reason they had all been gathered so urgently in the hall. A sense of nervous excitement filled the room as hinted by the soft, intense murmurs that floated freely about.

"The facts are," stated Sir Gawain, "One, the King has called upon all the knights of Camelot to a meeting, two, the King is currently absent from the meeting, three, this meeting is of utmost importance.."

"and secrecy," added Bedevere who appeared suddenly in the empty chair besides Gawain, having just arrived, "I'm late because I've been quarrelling with the guard outside the door, it seems servants aren't allowed inside by strict order of the King and I've had to quickly dictate a list of chores for Peter to do before I sent him off."

"Oh!" exclaimed Gawain, excitement doubled by this new snapshot of information, "Did you hear that Kay?"

"Mhmmm" replied Kay. Unlike the rest of the knights in the hall, with the exception of one, Kay had no interest in the rumours circulating the room. In spite of the enticing gossip that normally would have captured his attention, Kay had his focus trained on one particular individual in the room.

Arthur Pendragon was the only other person in the room who was not contributing to growing rumour mill inside the hall. In fact, noted Kay, he was uncharacteristically quiet. He was looking towards the doors, as if his mind were elsewhere, though it was clearly evident by his body language and facial features that he was feeling deeply troubled, if not almost pained. As Kay turned to this conclusion, the prince, as if sensing the attention, turned his head towards the knight. Amongst the buzzing chorus of knights, their eyes locked for what seemed like an eternity and Kay gasped quietly as the contents of the other mans heart seemed to pour itself into his mind. Suddenly he understood. But before he could any further in his new revelation, the hall fell deathly silent as the King marched into the room, in his grasp an old tailor and a nervous, young farmer.

Without even bothering to sit down, the old King addressed his subjects.

"We've found Morgana."

Merlin wrinkled his nose, dropping his half-eaten apple. Basket still in his hand, the young warlock turned sharply to the right, only to stop in confusion. He had sworn he had felt the trace of magic pulling towards him, however quickly the sensation had gone and passed. Furrowing his brow, Merlin placed his palm down cautiously on the ground, but feeling nothing he dismissed the thought of magic in his mind. Anyway, he reasoned as he began to head back home, if it was magic, the trace was not particularly strong, meaning it was old, most likely the remnants of a careless druid performing a simple fire spell.

As he disappeared into the thick forest, a small band of birds flew at once the discarded apple on the grassy floor. The smallest one of the birds, having been effectively blocked from taking part in any of the feasting, chirped loudly as it tried to worm its way in. Growing impatient, the small bird took flight into the air, morphing into a much larger, falcon like bird before swooping down onto the small red apple. Screeching, the other birds quickly dispersed, and as the large bird finished it's meal, it changed back into its original form, hopping away contentedly with its full stomach.

Merlin awoke to sound of footsteps in his room. Opening his tired eyes slowly, he frowned as he saw that it was still dark, save from the small amount of light that the moon provided. He had been about to return to sleep when he saw a dark shadow flit quickly across his room. Wide awake, he let out an involuntary noise of surprise, alerting the intruder to his awake presence. Almost automatically, he raised a hand but the first syllable of the defensive spell he had been about to cast barely escaped his mouth as the intruder muffled his words with a clamped hand. Using physical assault as a last attempt, Merlin found himself completely restrained and silenced by the heavy figure who had had to climb on top of him in order to avoid being hit by his flailing arms and legs. Panicking, Merlin's eyes darted around his room, searching for a heavy object he could move with his eyes to hit and hopefully impair his attacker. He had been about to summon a rather large vase on his table when the figure shifted, allowing to moon light to reveal his identity.

"Relax" whispered Arthur, "It's me."

As all signs of struggling stopped, Arthur stood up awkwardly. This was _not_ the entrance he had hoped to achieve. His plan had been incredibly simple, all he had to do was to knock on the idiot's door. But of course Merlin had to be a deep sleeper and so he had decided to enter his room and gently wake him. What he did not expect was for Merlin to suddenly become an incredibly light sleeper and for him to have to climb onto his manservant in an attempt to stop an attack.

He waited nervously for any sort of a hostile response, but instead he found his manservant sitting calmly on his small bed. Raising an eyebrow, Merlin, who seemed to have recovered quite quickly from his shock, hesitated before smiling at the Prince,

"Did you forget how to sit down?"

Relieved, Arthur took a seat on the bed, however not before noticing the hint of caution in his manservant's voice. Gods, he thought, he thinks I'm angry with him.

"Look, Merlin, I'm sorry about earlier," he started

A wave of relief washed over Merlins face, but was quickly replaced by a quick wave of guilt as a rush of lies and secrets swept over him.

"It's fine Arthur, I mean I over reacted."

"Maybe we should talk about.." Arthur paused, not really sure what to call it exactly, he settled for waving his hand about the two of them, "..this."

Having had subtly watched the face of the other for a reaction, Arthur saw the quick flash of a flinch before it was masked by the innocent, open expression that Merlin had adopted so well whenever they approached the topic of his personal life.

"No really, I'm fine Arthur, seriously, I barely even remember what happened."

The scene of Merlin confiding in Kay, pouring his heart out like he had complete trust in the other refused to leave Arthur's mind. Why couldn't it be the same with him? Why couldn't it be _only_ him?

"..Nothing that you want to talk to me about?" asked Arthur, desperately trying to get anything out of the other.

Merlin shrugged, "I told you, it's all good."

"..You sure?"

Smiling innocently, Merlin avoided eye contact with the blonde, "I'm an open book sire."

Arthur frowned, "I see."

Although Merlin, unbeknownst to most, was actually a very convincing actor when he wanted to be, after years spent together, Arthur knew the subtle differences between Merlin's genuine smile and his fake smile that he used whenever he wanted to change or avoid the topic. Like the time he had tried to find out what had been upsetting Merlin, Arthur pretended for the sake of his manservant, that the lie was the truth.

In the brief silence, Merlin found his eyes wondering to the prince's face. With some alarm, Merlin noticed the sunken circles underneath the hollow eyes. His skin seemed to possess almost a sickly pale tone and his hair was in a disarray which suggested he had run his hands through it a considerable amount of times.

"You look horrible." He blurted out before thinking

Arthur grinned for what seemed to be the first time that day. It was true, he did look horrible and he knew it. However after all that had happened today, he couldn't care less.

"Yes well _Mer_lin, I haven't eaten or slept since breakfast, in fact I've been in a meeting for the past six or so hours."

Merlin raised an eyebrow," A six hour meeting?"

Arthur shrugged, "More or less," then turning towards Merlin, Arthur's eyes lit up with a wild sort of excitement, "Actually, that's why I came here tonight, you know, besides to apologise for being an ass. We've found Morgana."

All colour dropping from his face, Merlin away nervously as he fiddled with his hands.

"Oh?" he said, as he struggled to utter the single syllable from his constricted throat.

Consumed in the excitement, Arthur failed to notice the discomfort of his manservant.

"Father received a ransom note this morning."

"How do you know it's not a fake?" asked Merlin, his mask faltering as the urgency in his voice peeked through.

Arthur frowned, "Well it was attached to Morganas cloak when the farmer was given it forcedly in the early morning. We covered this in the meeting. Father brought in the tailor that had made all of Morgana's cloaks and dresses and he confirmed that it was definitely hers, she had asked for little specific details on all of her clothing and no other person has the same designs as hers. What matters is that there's every chance that Morgana is alive and that we _will_ save her."

"What did the note say?" asked Merlin with as much nonchalance as he could muster up at the time.

"They just want money, lots of it, but father's willing to pay. We're to make the trade at Erousay valley at noon in a weeks time. We have to pass through some unknown land to get there so the knights and I are leaving tomorrow after we finish the last arrangements and packing."

Panicking, Merlin stared wide eyed at the Prince, "You're going?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow, "Of course. I am the Prince of Camelot Merlin, I have to be there with my knights. Besides, this is Morgana and if my going along means that there is more chance of her getting out of this alive, then I am definitely going."

Merlins head throbbed as his mind went into overload, "Why don't I go instead," he said quickly, in a last attempt to steer things back in control, "You know, to test out the waters and stuff. It's safer that way in case it's a trap or something."

Arthur's face darkened, "What makes you think I would send you out there by yourself if there was any possibility at all of it being a trap?"

"Then can I go with you?" blurted out Merlin.

"You hate hunting, and this will be worse by tenfold."

"I want to see Morgana." He replied quickly, the lie rolling off his tongue.

For a minute, Arthur seemed reluctant before finally agreeing, much to the partial relief of Merlin.

Stomach growling, Arthur stood up, "Just wondering, do you have any food?"

Still a bit shaken, Merlin nodded, leading the Prince to the pantry where he managed to find some bread and cheese.

Woken by the noise, the old physician grumbled at the disturbance, staring disapprovingly at the pair of men sitting at his dining table.

"You are always welcome in this house sire, but I have to say even so this is a little unorthodox. I hope you have a good reason for eating my food in the middle of the night."

Forcing on a smile for the benefit of Arthur, Merlin turned towards Gaius, his eyes letting their guard down momentarily to reveal the truth, "They found Morgana."

Gaius, who was by the standards even more experienced in masking his reactions than Merlin, took the news with the appropriate excitement and delight that Merlin had failed to perform. As soon as the Prince left the house after a few subtle hints from the physician, Gaius dropped his facade, letting the mix of fear, weary and panic take over his body.

"Merlin, tell me everything Arthur told you."

"A mysterious man turned up this morning and gave a farmer a ransom letter attached to Morgana's cloak, threatening to kill the man if he didn't deliver it to the King. Uther called a meeting and now all the knights including Arthur are riding out to Erousay valley to make the trade."

Gaius sat down, just in time as his legs gave way.

"But Morgana is with Morgause."

Merlin nodded grimly, "Exactly. It's a trap, it has to be."

"Merlin you can't go. Morgana may be in on this and she knows you tried to poison her."

Merlin let out an exasperated noise, "I have to go, there's no other option."

"We don't even know who is behind this, it may even be Morgause and she has unquestionable power in magic. This is far too dangerous. You have to tell Arthur the truth."

Merlin looked away, "I can't."

"If you let Arthur go, he will most certainly be killed."

Merlin stood with determination, facing his guardian, "I will not let that happen."

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**(; Oooh, almost a cliffhanger there.**

**WHO ELSE IS SUPERDUPER EXCITED AFTER WATCHING THE SERIES 3 TRAILER!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Believe it or not but I've been in France all this time which is why there have been no updates D: I'm really sorry about the long wait, but I hope this chapter makes up for it. Uploading it straight away (after sleeping for about 18hrs, yeh you read right, 18.) I wrote it on the plane whilst coming back so it's probably not the best of quality. I've so much new Merlin to catch up on o: About to go on a Merlin Marathon, so enjoy this chapter!**

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Swishing its tail around in a lazy manner, the chestnut coloured steed let out another appreciative whinny as the manservant who usually only gave him a hap-dash once over ran the coarse brush over his bristling coat for the umpteenth time.

Eyes rimmed with dark circles, Merlin continued to groom Arthur's personal horse in a hypnotic trance, the direct result of the sleepless night before. Normally, he couldn't care less about grooming Arthur's horse. It wasn't as if he didn't like horses, it's just that Arthur had about five servants including himself routinely grooming the steed and he quickly found out after a few days at the job that it didn't actually make a difference whether or not he touched the horse at all. Today, however, he felt a sudden, almost frantic urge to groom the chestnut horse carefully, and soon he found himself obsessing over every small detail, unable to stop.

Feeling a sudden hand on his should, Merlin whipped around quickly, the wrist of his surprised perpetrator grasped firmly in his hand. He had not slept a wink the night before, but thanks to the paranoia that plagued his mind, he had come out with more alert senses and reflexes than ever. Kay, surprised by both by the speed and strength of the usually physically hopeless manservant, stared dumbly at his caught wrist.

Merlin, seeing that it was only Kay, sighed.

"Sorry Kay, "he muttered, releasing his firm grip, "reflexes."

Kay nodded slightly in understanding and then the two stood in silence, both trying to ignore the obvious question that hung in the air.

Slowly, Kay broke the silence.

"I thought Morgana went with Morgause."

"She did." Replied Merlin quietly.

Sucking in a small breath, Kay asked the question that both were dreading,

"Is this a trap?"

Running a hand through his mess of hair, Merlin stared grimly at the knight, "Morgana..she may be his ward but she does not like Uther. Morgause doesn't either and they'll do anything to bring magic back to Camelot or to get to Uther."

"So what's the plan?" asked Kay, his eyes searching for an answer from the pale wizard.

Turning around, Merlin began brushing the chestnut horse again, "I don't know."

"Shit," groaned Kay, "We can't let the Prince go, they'll kill him."

Suddenly incredibly irritated, Merlin threw the brush down in a fit of anger, "Both you and Gaius! Don't you think I've thought of that already? Arthur will not die because I will not let him, I would go as far as to trade my life for his and that's all I can promise right now."

Kay softened. His friend had to carry the world on his shoulders and nobody ever took that into consideration. As well as being the Prince of Camelot and probably his best friend, Kay could sense that there was something more that Merlin felt for him, and seeing Arthur in so much danger must have been tearing away at him on the inside.

"If you tell him.."

"You know I can't. This isn't going to be the last time someone targets Arthur and I can't bloody do anything if I'm dead."

Kay put his hand softly on the boy's heaving shoulder,

"I accepted you for who you were when I barely even knew you. I've known the Prince for years, trust me Merlin, he would cross the seven seas to protect you. It might be hard for him at first, but he'll remain by your side."

Deflating, Merlin allowed himself to lean into Kay's reassuring hand momentarily before pulling away to finish preparing Arthur's horse.

"And what if he doesn't," he mumbled quietly, "I can't risk it."

The sun beat down harshly on the group of knights who were currently trudging through the thick assortment of trees, logs and other obstacles that mother nature had decided to throw in their way.

Arthur, however, barely noticed the heat as his mind was occupied by two things. First of all was the prospect of finally seeing Morgana again. It had been a year and yet suddenly the kidnappers who had taken away his childhood friend were emerging from the dark. Although it was not under the best circumstances as Morgana would not doubt be shaken and had been treated like a slave if not worse, it was still a welcome relief for Arthur and the kingdom of Camelot to know that she was at least alive and soon to be back at her rightful place in the castle.

The second thing that was bothering him was Merlin. His manservant, who was walking next to him with both their horses in tow, was uncharacteristically quiet and even more uncharacteristically, alert. Watching him in the corner of his eye, Arthur had noticed that his manservant would turn his head with lightning quick reflexes at every noise he heard. Merlin, the person who could not care less about the importance of being subtle and quiet and would not notice if he was half-way through being eaten by a bear, suddenly had a firmly clamped mouth and knight-like reflexes. Having been building up the courage for the past hour, Arthur motioned for his manservant to drop back in pace with him so both were at the back of the group. Once again clawing at the now rough hilt of his sword, Arthur waited till there was a considerable distance between them and the rest of the group before speaking.

"What's wrong Merlin?" he asked, afraid that his manservant was having second thoughts about forgiving him for his stupid behaviour the day before.

There was a painful silence as the raven-haired boy continued to look straight ahead, as if he had not registered the question at all. Wincing, Arthur took it as a sign of the patches of yesterdays mending of their severed friendship unstitching themselves.

Opening his mouth to speak in an attempt to fix everything, he stopped as Merlin turned suddenly towards him. Arthur shivered as deep blue eyes connected with his. Usually filled with a cheery if not cheeky demeanour, they now donned a haunting hollowness, as if he thought this was the last time they'd ever see each other.

"Don't leave, ok?" said Merlin quietly.

Confused as a torrent of emotions surged at him, Arthur opened and closed his mouth before settling for a simple "ok."

Feeling that talking would not help right now, Arthur quelled back his questions and the two walked side by side in silence.

On closer observation, Arthur noticed that Kay was also uncharacteristically remaining aloof, staying completely silent and disengaged to his fellow knights. Wondering if a fight had gone on between the knight and his manservant, Arthur felt a flutter of hope rise in him briefly before it was quickly over taken by guilt as he recalled the haunting absence of usual happiness in the perfectly angular face of Merlin.

Arthur frowned as he traced the pale, sleeping figure next to him with his eyes. Upon finishing their evening meal of a small deer, courtesy of Sir Bedevere's quick spear work, the knights had all climbed gratefully into their make shift beds of leaves and a sheet of thin linen each. Arthur had found himself next to Merlin as per usual on overnight expeditions, and unlike the other knights, was too preoccupied with the thoughts that swarmed his mind to fall asleep. He soon noticed that he was the only one still wide awake, save for Merlin who would let his eyes droop momentarily before suddenly jolting up and shaking his head as if trying to stay awake. Eventually his manservant had succumbed to sleep and Arthur had given up trying to and had turned his attentions instead to the sleeping figure next to him. The moonlight danced on the pale, milky skin and he could not help but admire the beauty, but at the same time he could see the worry still etched upon the features, even in sleep. It took him everything not to reach over and smooth out that frown with his thumb and to wake up his manservant and demand to know what was wrong so he could fix it and see that goofy grin again. Instead, Arthur slipped quietly out of his bed, careful not to wake Merlin from his well needed sleep, and began walking towards a nearby river he had discovered earlier when he had scouted the area.

Lying on the bank, having counted stars for the past hour or so, the prince had just begun to feel the effects of sleep when he heard a frantic scuffling to his right. Wide awake and on his feet, Arthur drew out his sword, only to see his manservant emerge from the dark mess of trees, crazy-eyed and puffing.

Arthur lowered his sword, "Merlin?"

Turning around, Merlin stared blankly at Arthur before breathing out a sigh of relief and breaking into a grin. He began to take a step forward when he stopped suddenly, retracting his smile and stepping back almost cautiously.

"Arthur, how did we meet?" he said in a low voice.

Raising an eyebrow, Arthur started to walk towards his manservant when the boy took another step back, this time accompanied by raising his hand shakily,

"Answer me. How. Did. We. Meet."

Not really knowing what else to do, Arthur shrugged, "You stood up to me and called me an ass and then you tried to punch me."

Groaning, Merlin lowered his hand before walking forward and falling into Arthur, his hands clutching at his arms and his head buried in his chest. Catching very few of the mumbled sentences that were coming out of the boys mouth, Arthur managed the hear the words "..had to check if it was really you or something Morgause.."

Confused, Arthur moved to ask what he was talking about when he spotted a large rip in the sleeve of his manservant and the reddy undertone of a cut that went under it. Scanning quickly for other injuries, he also noticed that his manservant was not wearing shoes, and as a result, his feet were bloodied and covered in scratches.

Hissing, he gently pulled the raven-haired boy off him, "Merlin, did..did somebody hurt you?" A quick flash of the mornings events and the conclusions he pulled about his manservant and Sir. Kay fighting brought a new image to his mind. Suddenly angry, Arthurs voice filled with new authority, "Did Kay hurt you?"

Wide-eyed, Merlin shook his head, "What..? No! "

Unconvinced, Arthur motioned wildly at the cut on the others arm, "Then why do you have a cut on your arm and why does it look like you were trying to get away from someone so quickly that you didn't even put on shoes."

Merlin muttered, looking at his arm as if noticing the cut for the first time, "must have scratched it on a branch or something..anyway," he continued, donning a fake smile, "went for a midnight walk, forgot to put on my shoes and I tripped, you know me sire, clumsy idiot."

A dark expression passed over the prince's face and he ripped off a small strip of his shirt, using it to bandage the wound, "this is the second time I've had to do this now. You know, I don't believe you for a second Merlin. I wish for that for once you'd just tell me the truth and then maybe I can try fix what's wrong instead of having to watch you go through it alone."

Staying silent, Merlin waited till the prince had finished bandaging his arm before muttering a "thank you". Sighing, Arthur began walking back to the camp, "Come on Merlin, we should get back,"

"I was trying to find you." Said Merlin quietly.

Arthur turned around, "..What?"

Merlin looked away, "I woke up and you weren't there. I though you..I thought you were dead Arthur."

"..Why would I be.."

Running a hand through his hair, Merlin stepped closer, closing the gap between them, and looked pleadingly into Arthur's eyes,

"I know you have a lot of questions," he began slowly, "but you have to trust me, Ok? I need you to do me a favour, don't ever leave again without telling me and don't ask me any questions anymore, please Arthur?"

Arthur furrowed his brow,

"But why?"

Merlin let out an exasperated noise, "Arthur!"

Getting increasingly frustrated, Arthur threw his arms into the air, "One question Merlin! That's all!"

There was a silence before Merlin spoke,

"You know I'll always be there..to protect you, yeh?"

His anger ebbed away as the words left the mouth of his scrawny manservant who was useless at fighting and had forgotten to put shoes on.

With a small smile, Arthur motioned to the direction of the camp with his head and began waking, "Lord help me then."

They had gotten back to camp quite late, or early, depending on how you looked at it, and both Prince and manservant had gotten about an hours sleep before the sun pierced through the trees and the knights began to rub the sleep out of their eyes. Arthur, used to functioning on minimum sleep and trained from birth to always be alert, made no delay in getting up the same time as his knights, however upon seeing his peacefully sleeping manservant, he had no heart to rob him of his well deserved sleep and so set the knights on a training exercise for another hour or so before gently prodding at the tangle of black hair.

"Merlin, time to wake up."

The figure replied with an incomprehensible noise followed by what sounded like a muffled version of "dollop head"

Rolling his eyes, Arthur prodded at the head once more,

"I hope you don't mind, but we fed your neckerchief to a wild boar, also your boots caught spontaneously on a fire and a bird ate your breakfast."

There was a momentary silence before the sleeping figure broke into a snigger.

"Your brilliance at improvisation and excellent skills at developing believable lies astound me sire."

Although still not his usual bumbling self, Merlin was visibly less tense compared to yesterday and Arthur had even managed to squeeze the tiniest bit of laughter out of him. Things had slowly begun to get better and Merlin was in the middle of an insult when he suddenly stopped walking. Fingers tingling, he frantically whirled in the direction they had just come from. Colour draining from his face, Merlin mumbled to a confused Arthur, "don't move," before walking stiffly towards Sir Kay.

"Kay," he said quietly, "I think they're behind us."

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**(; In case you're wondering, my friend spoiled some of the slashy/funny moments for me already which is where I got "dollop head" from.**

**Anyway, I hope you had fun reading that, however short it was (sorry about that, but I wanted to end it on a cliffie because I'm made of pure, ****unadulterated evil :D**)** . To the two readers I probably only have now, thank you for sticking around T_T  
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**P.S Good news, I've already written out the beginning of the next chapter so it should be a week max. before the next chapter is up**


	8. Chapter 8

**Oooh this is probably either the second last chapter or the third last ;)**  
**Thanks for bearing with me and my inconsistent updating, you guys are awesome! By the way, I noticed that my breaks weren't appearing on the chapters :l sorry if that caused any confusion, the group has moved away from the campsite and they've been walking for a little bit now.**

**O_O I hope that made sense.**  
**Enjoy!:**

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_kay," he said quietly, "I think they're behind us."_

_-X-_

Shuddering, Kay took a protective step in front of his friend, about to draw out his sword.

Merlin, noticing Arthur staring intently at them placed a hand on the knights arm, "Stop, or Arthur will know something's wrong. I've got to stop them before they get to him Kay, you have to stay with him, in case I don't come back."

Kay began to argue but nodded in defeat when he saw the torn expression on the sorcerers face.

"Alright, but you better come back or I'll wreak havoc on you in the afterlife."

Merlin's lips twitched, "I'll make sure to keep that in mind."

Putting on his best poker face, Merlin walked quickly back to the Prince.

"Merlin, what _are_ you doing?"

The manservant opened his mouth to spurt out a quick lie but found himself suddenly speechless. Standing in front of the man who he had been thrown together with since his first day at Camelot, Merlin realised how he would miss the way Arthur would throw back his head in laughter, or how his pointy teeth would stick out when he grinned. He realised how he would miss the way Arthur would call him an idiot and at the same time do it in a way that made his heart flutter. He realised how much he would miss Arthur.

Growing hot, the warlock looked away,

"I left something at the camp, keep walking, I'll catch up," he mumbled whilst turning around and walking, afraid that if he stayed any longer he'd never be able to leave.

Arthur, however, had other ideas, pulling his manservant on the arm,

"_Mer_lin, will you tell me what is wrong?"

Taking a deep breath in, the warlock began to pry the fingers off his arm,

"I told you, I left something at camp."

Getting increasingly irritated, Arthur narrowed his eyes,

"Merlin, do not believe for one second that I think you are telling the truth. Tell me what is wrong and I will fix it."

Merlin cringed, looking away. Arthur was not making this any easier for him to leave. For a brief moment, he considered telling the truth, but looking into the worried eyes of his friend, he could not bring himself to do it.

"Arthur, do you remember what I said you that day in your chambers when you finally recovered from the questing beast about being your servant?"

The prince knitted his brow in confusion, "you said that you would be happy to be my servant till the day you died."

Merlin lifted the corner of his mouth in a small lop-sided smile.

"Offer still stands."

"Merlin, I don't understand, what are you –"

At that moment, Kay tapped the Prince on the shoulder,

"Sire, could you come over here and help me with something?"

Arthur looked from Kay to Merlin, then back again, not really sure what to do. Merlin pulled his arm gently out of his grip and the Prince began to protest when he felt Kay's hand on his shoulder,

"He'll be back sire, don't worry." Kay said softly.

Mustering the most convincing smile he could manage, Merlin tried to look reassuringly into the Prince's eyes.

"See you soon sire. You're going to be a heck of a King."

Before any more words could be said, Merlin turned around and began briskly walking towards the direction of the magical trace, his smile dropping immediately and he fought back the urge to turn around and walk back to Arthur.

**-x-**

With his mind set on keeping Arthur alive, Merlin pushed at his magical awareness, his senses searching fervently for any magical residue. He had headed back towards the direction he had first felt the pull in but had so far yielded no results. Like some of his more powerful magic, magical awareness was something that worked when he wasn't even thinking about it but refused to when he needed it. Kicking a nearby tree root in frustration, Merlin tried once again to call on his magical sensors, closing his eyes this time to increase his focus. He had thought he was getting nowhere when he began to feel a small tingle in his hands. Concentrating on the feeling, he breathed in deeply before opening his eyes in shock. The magic, he realised, was not in one place, it was the entire forest.

**-x-**

The band of knights had been ordered to stop and stay put and most had taken this as a welcome rest and were sitting down idly on various rocks, sharing small talk and banter amongst themselves. The only exceptions to this were Gawain and Sir. Leon who had been dragged reluctantly along to try catch a bird and Arthur and Sir. Kay who were leaning stiffly against a tree.

"Kay, do you know what Merlin is really up to?" asked Arthur quietly, not wanting his other knights to overhear.

Kay grimaced, opting to stay diplomatically silent but eventually caving in.

"That's not really my place to say Sire."

"So he did tell you?"

"It's more complicated than that." Sighed Kay

Deciding to swallow his pride for the sake of Merlin, the prince turned towards the knight,

"These past few weeks, Merlin and I, we haven't been the closest, and it may have been partially my fault,"

Kay raised his eyebrow slightly but indicated with a small nod for the Prince to continue.

"I think I may have let my prattishness, as Merlin would have called it, slip through and hurtful words may have been said,"

Kay sighed, "Sire, before you continue, you must know that it's not my place to tell you."

"Kay, whatever trouble he has gotten himself into, I will save him, no matter the consequence."

Hearing those words, Kay broke into a small smile,

"You know sire, I know how you feel, I could see it in your eyes."

"What-"

"He cares about you, you know, in the same way."

Before Arthur could register the amount of craziness that was running through his mind, a frantic shout came from behind him.

"Prince Arthur!"

All standing up now, the knights turned towards Gawain who had wasted no time in getting to the prince.

"You'll never believe it sire! Leon and I, we were making traps for a bird and we decided we needed some more flexible branches than the ones in this area so we went a little further out and then Leon heard the noise of someone calling for help and so we-"

Arthur frowned, catching about every second word that was coming out of the knight's mouth,

"Slow down Gawain, who –"

Mouth still open, Arthur stared in shock as the familiar set of brunette locks emerged from the trees, a sturdy Sir. Leon supporting half of her weight.

"Morgana.."

The slightly scratched and dirty but no doubt still beautiful ward of Camelot broke into a half laugh half sob, "Oh Arthur, I'm so glad to see you."

Rushing forward to take the place of Sir Leon, Arthur gently guided her towards the rest of the knights who were now standing in awe.

"How did you get here?"

"I broke free from the men who were holding me, and I've been wandering for days."

Arthur put his arm around her reassuringly as she sobbed into his shoulder, "You're safe now Morgana."

The group of knights stood respectably silent as they watched the scene in front of them, completely unaware of the group of figures who had just emerged from forest.

Arthur, though ever vigilant, noticed a fraction too late and as he pulled out of Morgana's grip and reached for his sword, he found that he suddenly could not move. Eyes widening as he realised he was dealing with magic, Arthur panicked as he darted his eyes around, his face seeming to be the only thing he could move, and his eyes at last rested on the lithe figure of a blonde women standing in the place of Morgana, wearing the same tattered dress.

Noticing his stare, the women laughed before smirking, "Transformation magic. Took a bit of practice on forest animals but I think I got it in the end."

"Sorcery."Arthur snarled.

The women rolled her eyes, walking over to the trio of men who had walked calmly out of the trees.

"He's as ignorant as they say he is."

One of the men laughed, "Told you so. Nice acting on your half by the way."

The girl smiled, "I know, and I told _you _it would keep them off guard."

Getting frustrated, Arthur commanded his body to move, straining every limb in defiance of the spell.

The foursome, turning their attention to the struggling Prince, simply smirked.

"Poor Prince Arthur, stuck here begging for our mercy now aren't you?"

Growling, the prince narrowed his eyes,

"Un freeze me and fight me properly you cowards."

"You mean give you a fair chance at defending yourself?" spat one of the men, "Where was that courtesy when you murdered everyone of our kind without a question? When you terrorized people who did nothing to harm anyone all because you and your fool of a father are blind?"

Laughing bitterly, the man stepped forward so he was face to face with the glaring stare of the Prince,

"Well now you and your little group of friends are going to pay the price."

Kay grimaced as he listened to the sorcerer explain their fate,

"You see Pendragon, we're not going to just kill you, that's too light of a punishment. You are going to stand here watching your friends die in front of you while you all starve to death. Now if you don't mind we're going to be on our merry way now. Oh and just so I can dash your dreams for the last time, don't even think that anyone can help you now because I've taken the liberty of enchanting this entire forest so when we leave, everything inside will be frozen and therefore eventually die of starvation and what not because of your mistakes and nobody will be able to get in due to a magical shield, so no rescue for you, little prince."

Suddenly, the man who had been talking recoiled back and Kay could only guess that the Prince had taken the opportunity to spit on him. Scowling, the man began a spell when another member of the group swatted him on the head,

"You are not to kill him, that's what he wants because he's a coward and he can't stand suffering with the rest of his so called fellow knights."

The man who had begun the spell rolled his eyes, "I wasn't going to kill him Avidd, just a little pain inflicting here and there."

The other man grinned, "why not, we're celebrating anyway."

Cringing, Kay closed his eyes as he heard the agonised scream of the Prince. Drawing in a breath, he realised they really only had one chance of getting out of this alive,

"MERLIN!"

**-x-**

Upon realising that the entire forest was enchanted, Merlin had turned back, urgently making his way back to the group and wondering how on Earth he was going to convince Arthur to leave the forest as quickly as possible. He had almost made his way back, manoeuvring every once in a while to avoid getting scratched when he heard the frantic calling of his name. Whitening, Merlin forgot about avoiding the tree branches and ran.

**-x-**

The spell casting stopped as all four sorcerers turned towards Kay.

Arthur felt the urge to rip the knight in half. He had just alerted the sorcerers of Merlins presence in the forest, thereby drawing him into danger. He may not have been paralysed like the rest of them, but what could his manservant possibly do to defend himself against a four person team of powerful sorcerers?

The girl cocked her head, narrowing her eyes.

"There's another one?"

Without thinking, Arthur opened his mouth, attempting to find some way to bargain for Merlins life.

"Please, he's just a servant, he's done nothing wrong. Do whatever you want with me and I won't complain, just let him go."

Smirking, the girl approached the prince,

"Sounds like he's a little more than a servant to you."

Arthur looked down, "..Please.."

Giggling, the girl moved away, "Boys, I think our little prince has made friends with a servant, judging by his state, more than friends I would say."

Laughing, one of the men shook their head, "Oh this is rich. Prince Arthur of Camelot, in love with a mere servant. What would daddy think of that?"

Returning her attention to the Prince, the blonde smiled, "Just because of that, I think we're going to kill him bit by bit right in front of you, right now, so you know how it feels to have someone you love die right in front of you and not being able to do a thing, how does that sound?"

"..Please.." Arthur repeated quietly, "..anything.."

The sound of rustling bushes echoed through the small clearing and the foursome smiled as they heard a frantic voice ring out,

"Arthur?"

Leaning close to his ear, the blonde smiled, "Looks like he decided to join us. I hope you're ready for this."

Determined to not give up, the Prince drew in a deep breath, "Run, Merlin!"

Tutting, one of the men simply muttered a few words and Arthur gasped at the sudden searing pain that ran through his body. His mind went blank as he struggled not to scream, a silent protest of defiance.

"Arthur!"

The Prince groaned. The pain had stopped but an entirely new force constricted his heart. Merlin was going to die and it was his fault.

An eerie silence came upon the clearing as Merlin burst through the trees. Arthur watched in confusion as the smirks seemed to drop off the faces of the foursome and were replaced to something akin to fear mixed with astonishment.

"His manservant is _Emrys_?" hissed the blonde.

Arthur watched as his manservant nodded stiffly, eyes flickering to his before returning to the band of sorcerers.

"Leave now and we can avoid a fight."

The girl snarled, though with some uncertainty.

"If you were who the Old Religion claims then you would be helping us. This man here _murders _those who are like us. Like you."

Arthur's mind swarmed, what did they mean "Like you", who was "Emrys", why were they afraid of _Mer_lin.

"You're wrong." Said Merlin calmly, "He is not like his father. I am sworn by Camelot and I will do whatever it takes to protect this man."

Growling, one of the men stepped forward, "If that is how you stand then we have no choice but to kill you. It really is a shame to find that the great Emrys is a servant to this traitor. _Beorhtnes dynt!"_

"NO!" shouted Arthur as he watched a surge of red moved to strike his manservant. He had expected to see his manservant engulfed in pain, but in a split second, the bolt of red had fallen. Arthur's eyes widened as he watched the remains of the gold flash in his manservant's eyes.

Staring sadly at him, Merlin whispered a "sorry" before turning to the group of shocked sorcerers,

"_ádfýr"_

Arthur felt his body go numb as he watched his manservant produce a roaring wall of flames.

Merlin was a sorcerer.

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**Wow, I'm now up to date with Merlin and I have to say that season 3 is amazing! I'm seriously lookin forward to a Merlin/Arthur rescue in the next episode _**

**Anyway, hope you guys liked that :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Wow, thanks for the reviews guys, they really make my day :)**  
**Anyway, this chapter is a little shorter but you know what, I've decided to extend the story a little bit more than I originally planned so there might be about two-three more chapters? **

**Wooh, hope you guys are excited about that, anyway enjoy!:**

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Arthur watched with mute horror as the flames engulfed the man who had attacked earlier. A short, agonised scream marked his end as the flames disappeared, not even leaving behind ashes. Even in his state of shock, Arthur found himself feeling fear, however not of Merlin, but rather _for_ Merlin. The raven-haired manservant was trying to put up a front, but Arthur saw the sorrow in his eyes and the involuntary shudder that run down his spine.

"You traitor!" screeched the lithe blonde, tears running down her petite face, "You're meant to be our hero but instead you run around helping this _murderer._"

"Arthur is a good person, and I will always be willing to give my life for his. Don't you understand that by killing him you are achieving nothing but more suffering? I don't want to hurt you, just go." Pleaded Merlin.

"My parents were killed when I was six because they used magic to save me from drowning in a river, my brother was the only family I had left and you killed him." said the girl, her voice laced with hatred.

Merlin faltered, "I'm sorry," he said, "but I..I have to protect Arthur."

Screaming, the blonde raised her hand, "_clifstán __sylfum __lígræscetung!" _

The sky crackled as lightning came down, moulding itself into a large ball of electrical power.

Arthur opened his mouth, grasping for words but unable to form any. His eyes flickered to Merlin, who despite the terrifying display of power, had stood his ground. He was unable to pinpoint exactly what he felt about Merlin being a sorcerer, but he knew at least that he did not want him to die.

"Please don't." Merlin pleaded, appealing at first the girl and then to the silent male who had looked away uneasily.

"For Avidd!" she shouted before flexing her palm, fingers splayed.

The ball of lightning surged forward, only to stop half-way and turn back around. Arthur could not help feeling a slight tingle of amazement at the power his manservant possessed. Merlin had just killed two sorcerers with the blink of his eye.

The bodies of the two attackers lay sprawled on the ground. The male was dead but the girl, albeit running out, still had the tiniest amount of life in her. Raising her head, she simply smirked,

"He'll turn you in to his father now that you're no longer his lovable, harmless manservant you know." She whispered so that only he could hear, the last of her breath escaping her.

Flinching, Merlin looked away. There was every chance that she was right.

Slowly turning around, Merlin locked eyes on the Prince who was looking away.

"Arthur?" he said quietly, his voice betraying his guilt, fear, pain and grief all at once.

Arthur continued to look away. The initial shock that had come over him had subsided a little and now an array of different emotions ran through him. He knew that Merlin was a sorcerer, he had _seen_ the amount of power he had, power that could destroy Camelot with literally a wave of a hand or a blink of the eye. Common sense told him he should detain Merlin as soon as possible and bring him to the execution block, however he found himself horrified at the idea. There was anger, yet it wasn't anger that Merlin was a sorcerer; it was anger that his manservant had not told him earlier, that he had to find out in _this_ way.

"Merlin, we can't move." Said Kay with such calm that the other knights twitched with suspicion. What on Earth was he doing consulting with a known sorcerer?

Merlin raised his hand, the spell to release them about to roll off his tongue when the words repeated in his mind, '_He'll turn you in to his father now that you're no longer his lovable, harmless manservant you know.' _Cringing, Merlin looked towards Arthur who had still refused to look at him. He had hoped Arthur would have forgiven him but it seemed as if the words of the petite blonde were coming true. There was no way Arthur could let him go, not when he had revealed his magic in front of all the knights who were all staring at him with mute terror, save from Kay and Arthur. If he went back to Camelot, he would be arrested and executed, and that would be the end of the protection he could give to Arthur. It would not be ideal as he would not be able to be as close to the Prince as before, but if he were to leave now he would at least be able to protect Arthur from afar.

Making up his mind, Merlin muttered a spell, his eyes flashing gold. Kay grinned, about to straighten up before realising he was still stuck. Smile fading, Kay looked up as Merlin walked over to the Prince, "Merlin..?"

Adjusting himself so that they were face to face, Merlin began talking quietly, so that only Arthur could hear.

"Arthur, I know you're mad at me but I'm going to explain everything. I was born with magic, I never _chose_ it, I just had it. I've wanted to tell you all these years, but how could I do that and make you choose between me and your father? I would never hurt Camelot, I would never hurt _you_. Forgive Kay, none of this was his fault."

Tears that had formed in his eyes began to fall, "I know you'll never forgive me, and that's why I'm going now. I promise you'll never see me again."

Arthur's heart constricted. He had not known what he was going to do, but he knew now that there was no way he was going to have Merlin executed, he would protect him from his father, damned the consequences! As for the magic, and their relationship, he was sure they would work that out in time.

Opening his mouth to say that he didn't care about his magic, Arthur found that he could not speak. Eyes widening, he looked towards Merlin.

Seeing that Arthur had noticed, Merlin looked away, "I know, I'm a coward, but I didn't want to hear you say how much you hated me."

Merlin leaned in as if he were going for a kiss, but stopped right before and instead rested his forehead against Arthur's.

"I'll miss you," he whispered, "until the day I die."

Arthur panicked, struggling to speak. Merlin was about to leave and he had no way of saying that he didn't care about his magic, that he would protect him, that he _loved_ him.

Forcing himself to move away, Merlin walked over to Kay.

"Deny you knew. I'll miss you." He whispered into his ear.

Confused, Kay moved to ask what was going on however found that Merlin had already walked back to the front.

"_**mamor éaðe Kay"**_

Recognising the spell as one that made people unconscious, Kay panicked as he realized what Merlin was planning to do. Before he could say anything, he simply blacked out.

Staring with horror at his fellow knight, Sir Bedevere glared at the sorcerer.

"What have you done to him!"

Merlin sucked in a breath, "Realising him from my enchantment. That's how he knew I had magic, he was basically acting as an extension of myself."

Muttering another spell, Merlin's eyes flashed golden once more.

"You'll be able to move in about twenty minutes, about the same time it will take Kay to wake up."

Taking one last look at Arthur, Merlin walked into the forest, letting his tears run freely as his back turned.

**-x-**

"_Don't leave!" _Arthur screamed in his mind. But it was hopeless. He was gone. They had been standing there in silence, each running through the events in their minds. Arthur toggled between thought of finding Merlin and the thought of letting him go. Although he wanted Merlin back in his life, after time thinking, he had realised how dangerous it would be. Not only would he still be a sorcerer in a kingdom that executed anyone who was even suspected of magic, but now there were five others who knew who about his magic, excluding himself. Five others that could potentially be the death of him.

Gawain himself was pondering on how he felt about Merlin being a sorcerer when he noticed Kay starting to topple. Lurching forward, he caught the unconscious knight just before he hit the ground. Suddenly realising that he had just moved, Gawain shouted in the delight. The other knights moved out of their positions, and true to Merlin's words, Kay opened his eyes groggily.

"What.." began Kay slowly before shooting up as the events replayed in his mind, "Where's Merlin?" he asked, panicking.

Pursing his lips, Gawain sighed, "Kay, he had you under a spell, he's not who you think he is."

Kay shook his head, "What..? No! no, no no no.."

Gawain put a hand sympathetically on Kay's shoulder, "It's ok, you won't be charged for harbouring a sorcerer, I think we can all agree that you weren't in the right state of mind to know what you were doing."

Kay moved away from under Gawain's hand, "What! No! There was no fucking spell! Merlin is my friend and he's only saying he enchanted me to protect me."

A silence passed through the clearing as the knights all stared at Kay.

"You knew he was a practiser of magic and you did not bring him forward?" asked Bedevere quietly, the slight tone of a threat seeping through.

Puffing out his chest, Kay took a step forward to Bedevere, his eyes narrowed, "Yeh, that's right. Merlin, a sorcerer, is my friend, and I am not going to deny that for whatever reason."

Eyes hardening, Sir Bedevere took a step forward as Kay had done.

"Then I declare you an enemy of the King and I have no choice but to arrest you for the crime of consorting with a sorcerer."

"Wait a moment Bedevere-" began Sir Leon,

"You're defending him?" gasped Bedevere.

Gawain shrugged in Sir Leon's place, "Maybe if we just forget about all of this. I mean, Merlin did end up saving us and I don't think he's coming back. There's no point in arresting Kay here, it will just cause a whole lot of drama."

Morholt, who was the youngest of the knights, frowned, "but Merlin _is_ a sorcerer.." he began hesitantly.

Bedevere nodded, "Exactly, the boy is a monster."

"No one," began a loud voice, "is to call Merlin a monster."

The group turned towards their Prince who in the time they had spent arguing, had donned his sword and gathered the equipment that had been scattered around the area.

Bedevere looked torn, "But sire, with all due respect, he is a _sorcerer_."

"Yes but he has shown us _loyalty_, to the very end. And I am to show him the same."

Kay's face lit up, "Sire?"

"I am going to find Merlin, and bring him back to Camelot, and under no circumstances is he going to be executed or harmed in any way."

"But sire-" began Bedevere in protest,

"I quite like Merlin," said Gawain, interrupting, "and he doesn't seem evil. Anyway, you seemed to like him as well back in Camelot."

"That was before I knew what he was," sighed Bedevere, "I have a wife and a little girl you know, I have to protect them." He added quietly.

This time, it was Kay who spoke.

"You know how I found out about Merlins magic? He saved my life from a magical beast, even though he knew that would mean his death by Camelot laws. I almost killed him afterwards, all I thought about was protecting Camelot, but then I realised that he was still _Mer_lin. Having magic doesn't change a thing. He is still loyal, honourable and brave. He has risked his life so many times to protect Camelot, the amount of times he has saved the crown prince's life. He puts himself in danger for us even though he knows he'll never be acknowledged for it. He's our guardian angel Bedevere, he's the best protection your wife and daughter has."

There was a brief pause as everyone reflected on Kay's words.

"We have to find him." Said Sir Leon finally.

Arthur nodded. He wanted nothing more than that, but first he needed to guarantee Merlin's safety.

"Men, if we go down this path, we have to go down it together. Can I entrust you all to keep his magic secret to the utmost importance?"

The knights nodded, voicing their agreement in vigour. Bedevere, who had remained silent, mulling things over in his mind, gave in slowly, nodding, "Let's go find Merlin."

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**New episode of Merlin is coming out soon!**  
**Who's excited to see Gwaine again ;D?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for the long wait but I got caught up in school work _and_ planning this entirely different story that I plan to write in the holidays :3 In case you're wondering, it's going to be another Highschool AU (and Merthur, of course. Although I've been tempted to write some Merlin/Gwaine. And yes, Gwaine will be in the story, but no, he will not be gay ;) can't have too much competition for Arthur.) Anyway, this chapter is slightly longer than the rest to make up for the wait, enjoy:**

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Merlin walked blindly through the tangle of trees, managing to only swat about half the branches that got in his way. His previous show of magic had left him drained and fatigued and though he had a twenty minute head-start, the others were knights that were at their physical peak and Merlin knew that Arthur would have no trouble catching up with him if he allowed himself even the smallest of rests. Arthur. Merlin blinked away the tears and tried focusing on navigating through the dense vegetation that surrounded him but found it almost impossible to go on forward as his emotions rose viciously to the surface, tears refusing to slow. Foot catching against a tree root, he sprawled forward , pale limbs retracting themselves as the sorcerer curled up into a ball, frail body wracking with sobs.

He had avoided the question before; afraid that if he faced it he would crumble down and lose all the functionality he had left. But now that he no longer had the distraction of moving, the question bombarded him: Where would he go?

The thought of staying in the forest was horrifying. Without Arthur confidently leading the way, his stance towards the unfamiliar woods changed from indifference to weary nervousness. But really, what choice did he have? He would just have to hope that he'd walk by a water source soon where he could stay and cast a concealment spell over. That way, even if he didn't manage to find any food in the day, at least he'd always have water nearby.

His thoughts flickered to the messy, yet comforting quarters of his guardian, benches and worktables littered with oddly coloured concoctions and books opened to important pages with detailed illustrations. He whimpered as he realised he would probably never see Gaius again, just wishing that he'd at least had the chance to thank him for everything he'd done in the past years. As he imagined the old physicians kind face marred with grief when he found out about his disappearance... the sorcerer let out a chocked cry as he suddenly pictured the knights returning to arrest Gaius for harbouring a sorcerer, not even caring if he even knew of the magic or not.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Merlin yearned for home, and when he could not bear to think of Camelot and the life he had created there, his mind wandered to Ealdor. As childhood images of thick, familiar forests dotted with wild flowers and his mother sewing a wedding dress for one of the local girls flashed in his head, he felt the need to go to Ealdor and into the comforting hands of the small village grow almost uncontrollably inside him until he felt a sudden burst of magic coursing through his brains.

Gasping, his eyes opened and immediately rested on the tiny village of Ealdor.

**-x-**

Arthur ran a hand through his hair, doing another quick, desperate once-over of the place before turning back to the small group of knights.

"Maybe if we go back and retrack.." he began before Sir Gawain softly interrupted him, "Sire, we've already done that twice, everything points to the trail specifically leading here."

Arthur said nothing, choosing instead to once again walk around looking for any signs he might have missed. After having all sworn an oath on keeping Merlins magical abilities secret, they had immediately set in the direction the manservant had left in. As knights, they all had plenty of experience and skill in tracking and it had not been too hard to find the tell-tale broken branch or crunched leaves that led them in the next direction.

However not long after, the signs began to disappear and soon they were left with nothing to follow. Having gone back to the beginning to see if they had misinterpreted anything, Sir Leon had spotted a set of faint footprints marking the various patches of dirt that weren't covered with fallen leaves.

Immediately, Arthur recognized the familiar uneven grooving of a servants shoe, something that often dotted the market place of Camelot, nothing like what their meticulously battle-ready boots could have made. With renewed vigour, the group moved quickly alongside the footprints, careful not to disturb the vital clues. However not long after, the prints had abruptly stopped, leaving them at a dead end.

Refusing to give up, Arthur had ventured forward, hoping that something had simply erased the prints and that they would start again further on. But there had been no more prints, not even any subtler clues like recently upturned dirt or slightly squashed ferns.

Turning back, they once more attempted to track, this time following both footprints and the signs of nature. They had ended up again at the same position in which the prints had stopped. They had searched the area, all branching out within a certain radius, but none had found even the slightest trace, and judging by the earlier clues, Arthur's manservant had not in the least attempted to cover up his tracks. There was absolutely nothing and when they all regrouped to report their lack of findings, Arthur could tell his knights were all thinking of the same thing. It seemed as if Merlin had walked through the forest, stopped suddenly and just..disappeared.

Arthur shuddered, no, that was impossible. But then again, just yesterday, hadn't he thought Merlin being a sorcerer was just that?

The prince shook his head, clearing his mind. If he was going to find Merlin, he'd have to stay strong and determined.

So what to do?

Think like the idiot.

Arthur looked around at his hostile looking surroundings. The forest was denser than the ones in the outskirts of Camelot and completely unfamiliar. He thought of what he would do and his mind skipped immediately to food. Yes, it was nearing dinner in a few hours and he knew that Merlin had not had anything to eat since the small slice of bread he had right before they left that morning. Arthur himself would have hunted, but the prince knew for a fact that although his manservant wasn't completely opposed to hunting for food, he would not attempt it himself.

He wagered that therefore Merlin would have headed towards a village where food could be provided for him. However he was also fairly sure that Merlin was as unfamiliar with these woods as he were himself and it would be an almost fatal, risky move to go deeper into the forest with the slim chance of happening across a house or the outskirts of a village.

No, Merlin was smarter than that. A person could survive without food for a few days, Merlin, being the odd mixture of incredibly wise and at the same time completely idiotic, would have looked for water first, then possibly go fishing or try find fruit.

"Men," Arthur spoke, "our next move is to look by nearby water sources. He can't survive without water and he knows that."

Sir Morholt shook his head uneasily, careful not to break the Princes current fragile stability. The Prince to others may have seemed completely fine, but to him and the other knights who had been around him so often, they could tell he was on the breaking point, barely able to mask his emotions like he usually did so well.

"Sire, I've been here with my father and his men before, this place is littered with lakes and streams, more so than a forest usually is. We could walk in any direction and come to one in no time. There's too many possible paths."

Arthur knew that technically Morholt was right. This whole plan was dotted with holes. Even if there weren't that many rivers and lakes, they'd still run the risk of walking in the wrong direction and taking the wrong turns. He wasn't going to give up, so what other choice did he have but to just go ahead anyway?

Arthur closed his eyes, trying desperately to think of where Merlin would be when a sudden flash of Ealdor came into his thoughts.

Opening his eyes, Arthur shook his head, of course, where else would Merlin head than his home town? If he was wrong and they left this forest now in turn for Ealdor, they'd lose all chance of ever picking up on Merlin's trails again, but somehow, he just knew he would have to take that chance.

"Change of plan," said Arthur, this time with genuine confidence, "head to Ealdor."

**-x-**

Stunned, the sorcerer stood up slowly, not before running his hands through the soft blades of grass as if to confirm their reality. As if he thought moving would destroy whatever this was, Merlin stood shock still, completely content with just inhaling the sweet, woody smell of Ealdor.

"Merlin?"

The raven-haired man locked eyes with the small figure. Illusion breaking, Merlin found his legs carrying him forward. Breaking into run, he crashed into her familiar arms, letting his tears fall freely as his legs began to collapse.

**-x-**

Hunith sat dutifully beside the makeshift bed of hay and linen where her son currently slept. Her initial surprise at seeing her son standing on the edge of the harvest fields had quickly morphed into concern as he collapsed in her arms.

Without words, she tenderly led him towards their small cottage, wherein she quickly compiled the bed and tucked him in.

He had been asleep for two days, albeit restlessly, tossing and turning in his sleep. During that time, the many villagers of Ealdor, having not forgotten about the help they received during Kanen's pillaging days and also out of genuine affection for Hunith and her kind-hearted son, stopped by to visit and drop off small gifts such as extra bread and satchels of tea leaves. Some of the children had even gathered flowers to put by his bed and one little girl had woven a wreath to hang above his bed.

When he finally woke, groggily opening his eyes, Hunith breathed a sigh of relief, immediately gathering her son up in a comforting embrace. Melting into the embrace, Merlin let himself breathe in the familiar scent of his mother before suddenly pulling away.

"How long have I been here?" Asked Merlin frantically, eyes darting around as if searching for signs of danger.

Hunith frowned, "Merlin you've been asleep for two days, look everyone even stopped by to drop off gifts, they're worried about you Merlin, and frankly so am I. Are you in some sort of trouble? Why are you not in Camelot?"

Looking around the room, a surge of nostalgia and comfort nestled inside of him. Merlin groaned, he so desperately wanted to stay but it had occurred to him that this was exactly where Arthur would think he would be. It didn't help the fact that he knew Arthur knew the way here. By staying here, he'd be putting the entire village in danger for harbouring a sorcerer.

"Arthur knows." Said Merlin quietly, tears beginning to prick his eyes.

Hunith uttered a soft cry before gathering her son in her arms again.

"I can't stay here, he'll come looking for me."

Hunith tightened her grip, "oh, my boy." she whispered, "no, no, no, no."

Merlin gently pulled out of her embrace, wiping away his tears on his sleeve,

"I have to go."

"But where will you go?" cried out Hunith, distressed.

Merlin shrugged, "I have to protect Arthur, I can't let anyone hurt him. I'll hide out near Camelot, but it will be harder than before, I'll need someone on the inside to keep me up to date.."

"Maybe Kay.." he began before trailing off. No, he had severed his ties with Kay and it would be too dangerous to bring him back in. He would not risk Kay's life.

"Stay." Said Hunith quietly, already knowing her sons answer.

"I'm not putting you all in danger."

Hunith shook her head, "you'll die out there." She whispered.

Merlin looked down, "I'm happy to serve Arthur till the day I die."

Grasping at straws, Hunith tried again, "Stay, just for a few days. You need to regain your strength anyway."

Merlin hesitated. The idea was really appealing, in fact it took all his might not to just stay here forever in the wonderfully comforting village of Ealdor. He wagered his options. He had slept for an entire two days, however even assuming that Arthur, Kay and the others had figured out somehow to head for Ealdor straight away, he'd probably still have about a few days head start on them.

"I'll stay for a day, but I'll have to go after that."

Hunith now donned a sad smile, drawing her son in for a quick hug before standing up.

"I'll go get you some tea."

After catching up with his mother's life in the few years he'd been gone (they had both carefully avoided touching on Merlin's life), Merlin headed outdoors, determined to make his time in Ealdor last.

He started by thanking and visiting each of the villagers, helping each of them out with something along the way, for example stripping the stalks of corn with Henry whilst they sang an old tune they were taught when they were younger or climbing up to retrieve a thin dress of Mrs. Rivers that had flown up and caught in the tree branches.

He had just returned to the house after playing with the village children when he was suddenly struck with a brilliant idea.

"Hey mum, why don't I go out and pick some berries for you? It's the right season isn't it?"

Hunith broke into a smile, determined not to cry and ruin her sons current well deserved happiness. When Merlin was younger, he used to venture in to the forests whenever he could to find berries which he knew were his mothers favourite. Hunith had never had the luxury of time to go herself and was often stranded with more important jobs of harvesting and tending to crops.

Venturing into the forest, Merlin found himself walking deeper in than he usually did, finding that his fear of the place had subsided since he had left. Gleaming, as he stood up from a particularly fruitful blackberry bush, Merlin deposited the berries into his pouch.

Turning around, he began walking again when he noticed the sudden change in the forest. What was cheery and bright before had suddenly adopted a quiet, eerie nature. Walking slowly, he felt the urge to go back when he heard the sudden crack of leaves and feet thudding towards him. Before he could react, a cloth was pressed over his mouth. The last thing he saw before his eye lids dropped heavily, was the triumphant smiles of his captors.

**-x-**

Arthur felt the first smile he had in days grace his lips, however small and short lasting. They had barely rested along the way, stopping only when it was absolutely impossible to go on, either because it was too dark to see or because their feet simply refused to function without making it feel like a knife driving through their foot every time they took a step.

He was not sure if he remembered the way to Ealdor exactly, and when they spotted the village in the distance, instant relief rushed over Arthur.

As they walked into the village, they were regarded with a mixture of cautious weariness and curiosity. Villagers shyed away when they spied them heading their way and the group had almost begun knocking on the door to what Arthur remembered was Merlin's house when the door opened, revealing a very worn out looking woman.

"Prince Arthur," she said, bowing slightly, a stiff smile on her face.

"Hunith," said Arthur warmly, wondering what had caused the radiant, strong woman he had met a few years ago deteriorate to this state. He had a feeling he knew exactly why.

"What brings you to Ealdor, my lord." Said Hunith, obviously faking any casual warmth and surprise in her voice.

"Please, call me Arthur, I'm looking for Merlin -" he began before he was interrupted by Hunith.

"Merlin? I haven't seen him for years, Oh, isn't he in Camelot?" she inquired faintly.

Arthur sensed the fearful tone in her voice, instantly indicating that she was lying.

"Hunith," pleaded Arthur, "please I need to find him. We're not here to hurt him. I just need to tell him that.. I can't lose him Hunith." Ended Arthur in a small voice.

Hesitantly, Hunith opened her door a little wider, still regarding the group with suspicion.

"What do you want with Merlin, who are these people?"

Arthur, as if knowing what she was implying, motioned to his knights.

"They were with me when Merlin revealed his..abilities. They've sworn an oath to keep it a secret and to protect him. This is Sir Leon, Sir Bedevere, Sir Gawain, Sir Morholt, and Sir Kay."

Something seemed to have struck a chord in the woman and she stood up straighter almost immediately.

"Sir Kay..?"

Kay leaped forward, "has Merlin mentioned me ma'am?"

Hunith hesitated before nodding slightly.

"Then you know I would not hurt him. I've known about his magic for weeks, I don't give a rats arse whether he's a sorcerer or not. Please, all we want to do is to bring him back to Camelot, where he belongs."

Arthur had never really liked the close bond that Kay and Merlin had shared, although now he found that he didn't care, as long as it was the bridge they needed for Hunith to trust them.

Caving in, Hunith slumped down on the door frame.

"He came here a few days ago. Yesterday, he woke up and he went to pick me some berries and he.."

Hunith broke into sobs, "some bandits took him and now they're demanding gold for his life. We've gathered everything we could but it's no where near how much they want."

Arthur felt his veins turn to ice, moving immediately into his professional mode.

"Do you know if he's hurt? We'll need medical supplies set up here if so. I don't have that much gold on me but I've got my Pendragon signet ring that's been in the royal family for years, it should be compensation enough at least until I can get gold from Camelot. Did they leave a note telling you where to meet them?"

Hunith, regaining her composure, hurried to retrieve a crumpled up parchment on the dining room table. In messing writing, the bandits had scrawled a warning, the price and the location in which they would be waiting.

"I can take you there," said Hunith, wiping away the last of her tears and moving to step out of the door.

Arthur stopped her gently by the shoulders, "No, you should rest. I know Merlin would never forgive me if I brought you anyway near those bastards. Do you know anyone else who can lead us there?"

Hunith nodded, "Nathaniel next door knows."

Arthur squeezed her arm reassuringly, "we'll bring him back."

He had turned to join the rest of the knights who had stood respectably away when Hunith called out to him softly.

"He still cares for you, you know."

As the million emotions flooded him, Arthur motioned to his knights with new dedication and headed next door and then into the forest.

**-x-**

Finnigan walked through the forest, whistling good naturedly whilst flipping a coin in his right hand. His small side business had been picking up and he had made a tidy profit the other day when he picked up a pretty little thing who sold almost immediately.

Walking towards the rough looking group of bandits, Finnigan smiled as they dropped they dropped their raised swords and acknowledged him with a nod.

"Any good catches for me today? The slave markets' getting real good since harvest season kicked in and I could use a couple more stock."

One of the men grinned, "We got one who was walking in the forest but we've already got a sale, holding him for ransom you see. His village is the one to the East. Sorry Fin, you'll get the next one."

Finnigan sighed, "that's a shame, could have used a male, especially a strong guy. They sell good cos' they can do all the hard work, ya know?"

The man shrugged, "Well he's skin and bones anyway, take a look for yourself."

They moved towards a sedated figure that was slumped and tied against a tree, kicking aside the bottles of empty sleeping drafts along the way.

Seeing the boy up close, the first thing that came to Finnigans mind was that the boy had a sort of charm to him but really _was_ nothing but skin and bones, the second thing that hit him made him let out an involuntary gasp.

Standing up quickly, he turned to the man he spoke to before.

"Say gentlemen, how's triple the price of whatever you're getting for him sound?"

The bandits looked puzzled. The boy looked as if he could barely lift a stack of hay.

"Sure, whatever Finnigan. Why do you want him so badly anyway?"

Finnigan, who was now examining the boy up close, turning his head from side to side with his hand, turned around, placing his entire money pouch in their hands without hesitation.

"Well besides the fact that I could easily sell him with his high cheek bones and his blue eyes to some of my more *ahem* richer clients, this boy isn't just anyone. In fact, I know someone who would kill to get their hands on him."

* * *

**Ahh cliffie :D!**

**WHO'S EXCITED FOR THE SEASON FINALE! I WILL DIE IF ARTHUR FAINTS AGAIN WHEN ALL THE MAGICAL SHIT GOES DOWN.**

**Speaking of magic, who's seen the new HP movie? :D It was amazing. Watch out for the bit where they infiltrate the MoM using polyjuice potion. It's hilarious, especially Ron and Harry.**

**Anyway, thanks for the postive reviews guys :) Tell me what you think of this chapter.**

**(and yes, Merlin totally apparated.)**


	11. Chapter 11

**As promised, here's the next chapter**

**So I just finished this and I haven't edited it yet so it may be riddled with mistakes - but it's incredibly late and I just wanted to get this out to you guys. Bare with me :) I'll look over it when I get home tomorrow, in the mean time, I hope this lives up to your standards lovely readers~**

**Oh, one thing though - Morgause and Cendred are still alive in this story; just think that basically season 3 and half of season two has not happened yet :p**  
**Enjoy!:**

* * *

"There," said Nathaniel, motioning to a particularly dense section of foliage, marked by a towering, century-old oak, "Imiya's glade. The river runs by a cave not too far in, I would make a guess that that is where they're waiting for the exchange. His words hung thick in the air, having broken the quiet trance of the forest.

The entire walk had been cast in a brooding silence, the usual banter and almost boyish spirit that flowed between the knights having been tainted by an infallible darkness. As a collective, the knights kept a respectful distance from the crown prince, their own actions and thoughts sobered by the apparent, though carefully restrained, pain and anger of their future king.

"Thank you," said Arthur, marking the second time the silence had been broken since leaving for the outskirts of Ealdor, "your actions will not go unrewarded, take care when travelling back."

Nathaniel drew his lips into a terse frown, "I fear you may think cowardly of us, but believe me, we would have acted sooner had we any adequate weapons or amour. We have families to take care of but we were going to come anyway, we just couldn't come unprepared. Merlin is a friend, I will not abandon him, despite any.."

Pausing, the blacksmith levelled himself with the Prince, making direct eye contact and deliberately adding depth to his next words, "..differences he and I may share."

Knowing that he was referring to Merlin's.. abilities, Arthur kept eye contact, "Merlin will be safe with us. You have no protection, no means of defending yourself, head back to Ealdor, we will think no less of you."

Catching the subtlety of the message, Nathaniel stepped back.

"I am glad. Good luck sire."

With a brief nod at the knights, Nathaniel left.

Turning back to the glade, Arthur gripped his sword. Merlin. Merlin was in there and _had _been there at the mercy of bandits. He was most likely thirsty, starved, beaten, undeniably mistreated and abused and the knowledge made the prince feel a bitter, almost animalistic anger, both at the captors and at himself. Maybe, just maybe had he been a better friend, someone as equally giving and deserving of his manservant's unquestionable loyalty, Merlin would have trusted him with his magic, would have never have even begun to _believe _that Arthur would ever want him to leave his side.

With a swish of hand, Arthur withdrew his sword from his sheath and broke into a determined stride, the knights following closely behind.

**-x-**

Morgan, having been jolted from his nap by the wayward splashing of a rather large man in the river, scowled.

"Quit it, what if they come n' all they see is youse splashing around in the river?"

Balgore, the other man, promptly rolled his eyes but stepped out of the river regardless, shaking the remains of the water off his body in the process.

The two had been given orders to stay behind for a few days in order to see if they could manage to gain some extra gold, in the chance that the villagers from Ealdor turned up with the ransom for the dark-haired boy. Of course he had already been sold, but they didn't know that – and they would be expecting an exchange, not an ambush if they came.

Balgore had been about to retort when his mouth contorted into an 'o' at the sight of a knight emerging from the shadows, sword placed swiftly at throat of his fellow bandit.

Before he could fully process this, he felt the coolness of a blade touch his neck and immediately knew that the battle had been lost.

A blonde man walked towards Balgore, raising the tip of his sword to his throat, replacing the blade of the knight behind him. Immediately, he recognised the colours and signet of Camelot. This was the crown prince of Camelot.

"Where is he?" said the prince in a low voice.

Sweating, the bandit cursed his luck. He didn't know who "he" was, but they had obviously thought that he and Morgan had something to do with the disappearance of most likely one of their fellow knights. He wasn't certain, but he was pretty sure that was a crime punishable by death.

"I, er, I don't know what you're talking about," he stammered, "we haven't seen no knights of Camelot since just now, um, sire."

The prince growled, pushing the tip of his sword closer so that it was very nearing the point of drawing blood, "I am talking about Merlin, the person you _took _from the fringe of Ealdor."

Balgore panicked. Whereas before they might have had a chance of escaping alive due to the fact they really hadn't seen one of the knights, he definitely knew that they had taken this Merlin. Oh god, he thought, who on Earth had they kidnapped for the Prince himself to come find him.

"Uhmm," he spluttered, "we didn't know he was important n' all, I swear! Otherwise we wouldn't've touched 'im, would've let him right alone!"

"You're missing the point," hissed the Prince, "Where. Is. Merlin?"

"We don't 'ave him anymore!" Yelled Morgan, "don't hurt us, he's with Finnigan, ask Finnigan!"

Turning around, the Prince faced the other bandit, "Who's Finnigan?"

"He's the King's personal servant, a slave trader in his spare time."

There was an indignant hiss from one of the knights and the blond, sword forgotten, grabbed the bandit by his shirt, "You gave Merlin to a slave trader?" he growled, eyes darkening dangerously.

At that point, a scrawny man stumbled into the scene, staring blankly as he took in the scene of the confrontation before him.

"Oh." He said quietly, before turning around, scrambling to exit when Sir. Bedevere caught him by the scruff of his shirt.

"That's him," shouted Balgore, "that's Finnigan!"

**-x-**

Cendred stood by his throne room window, hands clasped behind his back as he briefly contemplated the evening ahead. He smiled. Morgause would be pleased with him and perhaps she would act a little less hostile, allowing him that more closer to her.

"Cendred," came a familiar voice from behind, "I hope you bring me here for good news," she drawled.

The King turned around, bending slightly to kiss the hand of the sorceress, "My lady," he murmured, "what would you say to a chance of destroying the Prince of Camelot."

Morgause perked with interest, immediately adopting a more welcoming manner, "My lord," she purred, "what have you?"

"I remember the Lady Morgana telling me of the closeness of the Prince and that servant of his, the one that accompanied him on his last.." Cendred darkened, reminded of their last failure, "..trip here."

At the mention of the Prince's servant, Morgause narrowed her eyes, "Go on."

"My servant Finnigan dabbles in the slave business. He went to acquire some more stock from and noticed him. Bandits had taken him from Ealdor."

Walking over a bundle lumped on the floor, Cendred withdrew the cloth revealing a battered, chained and inebriated raven-haired man.

"I thought you might like this. He's sedated as of now but when he wakes, you're free to cause as much pain to him as you like."

Morgause smiled coyly, "I like the way you think, my lord."

"Sister," she called.

Immediately, the Lady Morgana appeared by the door, gasping as she saw the crumpled form of the familiar body on the floor.

"Is this the man who poisoned you?"

At the mention of the betrayal, Morgana darkened considerably.

"Yes," she spat, "that's Merlin."

Morgause smiled, "then we have a treat for you. You may make him feel the pain he made you feel ten-fold, let him truly appreciate the sheer _power_ of magic."

The seer smirked, "no, we can do more than that. Let Arthur know of this and he will surely come to try save him. We can have them both, and with Arthur's death we can crush Uther."

Smiling proudly at her sister, the sorceress moved towards a stone basin filled with a liquid substance. Eyes glowing, she began to chant, "scéawung mec bæcern _Arthur Pendragon."_

An image conjured in the liquid, showing the Prince and a company of men, his knights and a peasant, walking in forest.

"Your servant," snapped Morgause, "bring him here."

Cendred obliged, "Finnigan."

The servant entered through the door, bowing.

"Sire, Lady Morgause, Lady Morgana. How may I be of service?"

Morgause beckoned him closer,

"You were the one who bought the Prince's manservant? "

Finnigan smiled, "Yes my lady, it was I. My acquaintances were holding him for ransom for the village of Ealdor."

Morgause turned back towards the basin, narrowing her eyes.

"I believe Prince Arthur is going to meet with them now. You are to go back and reveal to the Prince that he is here, and under no circumstance must you tell him that you were told to tell him, make it seem like an accident."

Finnigan whitened, "but my lady, surely if I do so the Prince will kill me."

With a sweep of her elegant gown, Morgause glared icily at the servant.

"You dare defy me?"

Before he could respond, the sorceress raised her arm and the servant felt a crippling pain course through his body.

"Do. Not. Fail." Hissed Morgause, before launching into a flurry of words.

Within seconds, Finnigan found himself outside Imiya's glade. Trembling, he stumbled inside.

**-x-**

Angered by the fate of his friend, Sir Kay moved towards the slave trader, sword in hand. Arthur though had beat him, and held the servant under knife point.

"What have you done to him?" shouted the prince, "Where is Merlin?"

Finnigan trembled, the remnants of pain from Morgauses spell however was enough to encourage him forward.

"I don't uh, I've sold him already," he gulped, "to a knight in Lord Cendred's castle."

Arthur let out a strangled noise. Cendred's kingdom was perhaps the most hostile place he, as the Prince of Camelot could find himself in. Merlin, as the prince's personal manservant would be no doubt killed if he were to be found out.

Screaming, the Prince raised his sword, bringing it down with a fury of force, stopping however, just before striking the shivering slave trader. Breathing heavily, he motioned towards his knights and walked out into the forest.

They were going to Cendred's Kingdom.

-x-

Merlin screamed as a second bolt of what felt like fire coursed through his veins, convulsing on the ground as both sisters stood above him.

"Please, Morgana," choked Merlin, his voice coarse from screaming.

Morgana smirked, "How does it feel, Merlin, to know that you're going to die?"

Morgause laughed, "In due time sister, but I want to play with this one a little more."

On cue, Morgause flicked her wrist, this time lacerations appearing on the warlock's back, blood seeping into his already blood-soaked clothes.

Screaming Merlin bit back the incentive to use his magic. He was weak from both the sedation he had undergone, and the pain that Morgause had caused him. He knew that if he were to reveal his magic now, he wouldn't be strong enough to hold off both Morgause and Morgana, and once they knew, they'd find a way to restrain his magic. No, it was much better to wait for the opportune moment to catch them off guard, and to escape. In the meantime, Merlin let out an agonized sob as he felt another torrent of pain surge through his body.

**-x-**

The time came later in the evening. Just as he had felt that he was on the brink of death, that the pain was too much and that he would have to defend himself with magic, Morgause had suddenly called for the guards and he had been thrown into a cell.

Taking a moment to nurse his injuries, Merlin limped towards the metal bars, struggling to hold himself upright.

Whispering a spell, Merlin felt the magic course through his fingertips, taking with it however, some of the little energy he had left. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Merlin stumbled through the dungeon and into the night.

Upon sneaking through the sleeping kingdom and into the outskirts of the main city, it became apparent to the warlock that he would need to rest. Stumbling into the forest, Merlin used the last of his energy to cast a concealment spell before collapsing.

-x-

Upon finding out that Merlin had escaped, Morgause screamed, and with a flick of her wrist, killed the messenger.

"He could barely stand," hissed Morgause, "your guards are completely incompetent. Our plan is ruined."

Cendred grimaced. He didn't understand how the boy had managed to escape, but it had reflected badly on himself.

A few days later however, their plan had in fact come to fruition.

"My lady, I bring good news. Arthur and his knights were captured last night, they had been wearing peasant clothing in order to disguise themselves. My knights however were waiting, they did not stand a chance."

"Well," purred Morgause, "I suppose it matters not about the servant, the Prince is the main prize. Bring him to me."

Cendred sent for the prisoner, and a moment later the Prince entered, restrained by two of Cendred's knights.

Morgause smiled, "Prince Arthur," and then promptly raised her hand.

**-x-**

Merlin woke up to a sharp pain in his ribs. Testing out his limbs, tears sprang to his eyes as the soreness of his injuries took their toll, allowing no mercy as the warlock stretched himself out and attempted to stand.

He had been resting in the forest in the past few days, deciding that it was near impossible for him to travel any further without letting his injuries heal enough to let him walk further than a mile. Stomach rumbling, he cast his ageing spell and once again Merlin hobbled into the marketplace to see what he could steal for his next meal.

Although he kept a low profile, for fear that someone would recognise him despite his aged appearance, Merlin often stayed in the marketplace for longer than necessary, choosing to listen to the conversations of merchants to see if he could gather any information on the situation regarding himself.

He had heard nothing interesting so far until today.

"Did you hear Maurice?" asked the portly woman.

"I got no time for yer gossip woman," growled the merchant, "got things to sell."

"Oh but it's important," huffed the woman, eager to share her gossip, "we could be at war soon, with Camelot."

Merlin gasped at the mention of his old home, listening intently. He may not be welcome there, he thought, with a stab in his chest, but he would still protect Camelot. He would still protect _Arthur._

"Oh yeh?" said Maurice, intrigued by the news of war.

"Oh yes," said the woman, "Prince Arthur and his knights were caught trying to infiltrate our city, no doubt they were trying to pull a secret siege. I mean we have been at tension for some time. They're being kept at the castle as we speak."

Merlin blanched.

Arthur.

Arthur was in the castle with Morgause.

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**Yep. Wrote that in the middle of the night so i'm not sure on the quality x) let me know I guess.**

**Do you like where the story's going because i'm not quite sure myself :/**


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